Occupation Experiments

Is t

his a b

it of w

hat it means to be occu

pied? Beauty elsewhere.

A t

rack laid out with a deep groove.

And when you love y

our l

and, no p

lace but in the armies of love or hate.

Choose wisely.

But samud—steadfast.

C

leaving the l

and in two, c

leaving to the l

and.

Not an uncommon

occurrence, but usu

ally Procrustes c

hop(e)s off our ungainly

arms and legs embar

r as

sing p

arts hanging off the edge

but it’s an

other thing to never be al

lowed to g

row in

to y

ourself in the first p

lace. A pl

ant writhes and twists

into the s

pace you give it.

Not a straight proud back to the sky, a stem b

ends here and t

here to snatch at a d

apple of sun.

And you, who k

nows who you’d be

if allowed to a

rise without the sky hemmed in by w

alls.

I don’t w

ant to op

press you by pain

ting you as

no

thing

but victims. Do I dishonor you

by fixing my playground, my toy s

old

iers in this fami

liar pattern?

Or is this t

ruth? To com

bat the belfries

of our minds, the old swerve

to b

lame and point fingers

at you again

st me again

st you. The ene

my of my fri

end is my ene

my and the ene

my of my ene

my is my fri

end is a dead

end.