Pants and Kaps

Another reason why I don’t go to the morgue.

Her pants will not ascend up the body.

They exhibit the various mountains and valleys of exhibition

that exhibit all and every stifling opening in the land between the limbs.

The progenitors apparently never trained the lass in class.

Her pants will not ascend the body.

I slam the image processor shut

and beg the higher powers for more cloth

but the portrait remains hung in the palace,

exhibiting, exhibiting, exhibiting,

weakness and detestation in the wake of insomnia,

for she can spine-chillingly be pictured in the movies they show,

the ones with palm and sand and penetration for all.

When the tape ends its shift as a documenter she still exhibits,

plagiarizing the greats like a trombone entertaining itself with exhibition,

its brass perpetuating nausea and its horn emanating

aromas of catastrophic consequences

while it sits there like a prostitute, echoing the words of the vivacious

director in the silk scarf of silhouettes and the exhibition of pure animosity,

that pops and fizzles like the dying carcass of an incest ridden rodent

who decrees that Cersei is the finest in the land.

         - J. A. Kind

I Had One In The First Of Twelve

equip

i’m awakened by the

climb of the chime of your

mirror bell as you zip

above me like the shadows

of the golden metal that echo

in my ear.

but it seeps so strangely under

your clenched fists, as i watch

you pedal and ascend

one knee after another,

as sweat condenses on the

handles, and streamers sputter in the wind.

all i recognize you feel is blur,

and the substance we need

to pedal, fill your mouth and

choke muscle and tendon,

as our cartilage crammed turbines rise and fall

like the pant of your lung as you tricycle

away from the choker covalently

bonded to the first of all that matters.

yet we giggled - we snorted,

while printing the memory

on your chip as the disc swerved away.

rue had let you run over my

toes with our red.

you rose and fell over

the unseen ivory bones; and i pleaded for

a motion of  cyclical squeeze more

potent than a chip and a

wheel gone awry.

such as our disc shattered

in two, i stooped on our

step with palm under arch,

limp from the stubs of nails

that bled out like thorn bush

creaking to the zip code that a

tricycle is no bicycle when one

wheel decides to drift away.

             - J. A. Kind

It Is Awkward - I Lost All My Photographs

polaroid

as the charred squares

lied to my eyes that their

matter was disintegrating, salted

droplets eroded streams of

regret that deepened my dusk

and dulled my blaze.

but it’s somewhat amusing

isn’t it, that my own fleshy

urn holds no shape as

symmetrically sound as the squares

that charred and lied.

call out my name; let my ashes be the

penultimate vibrations that echo as

the squares squares squares grasp the twigs

and tufts of amphibological

debris, beckoning my

eyes to glow ablaze.

while the wisps of smoke

escaped the dancing radiance that crackled and

cackled as the memories i was

too burnt out to memorize, decomposed

knowingly, deceiving my

orbs that will

indeed always forget the

silently sleeping squares.

                        - J. A. Kind

Separations

"Oh, my God, I feel it in the air..."  It has ended.  The summertime sadness that was not quite that sad has come to a close.  I will miss pressing the chilled metal of my flattened wand that connects me to the cyberspace and the rectangular, orange collection of pixels.  

        - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 7: The Title

   The Biblical creation of man, as in Genesis 2:7 begins with “...the Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth.  He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” However, before God created man, in Genesis 1:26, “...God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’”  To whom was God speaking, for God quoted himself?  Perhaps, God was speaking to the animals, for man can be said to be part animal and part God.  Man inherited God’s breath but was still formed from the dust of the earth, the dust of the animals.  Very Darwinish. The title Inherit the Wind symbolizes the amalgamation of the Biblical theory of creationism with the scientific theory of Darwinism.  Through free thought and speech man becomes a thinking “being” of intellectuality, spirituality, and morality.  Just like the wind, man inherited these.  However, the inheritance of intellectuality, spirituality, and morality can become abusive just like wind’s ferocious form, the tornado.  The tornado twists and turns, devouring a cathedral, yet it cannot destroy an idea.  But, wind also has a gentler force, a force that is still impactful but not destructive.  It carries the seeds that germinate into plants, clouds that produce nourishing water, and the perfumed aromas that awaken the senses in man.  Intellectuality, spirituality, morality. 

   Drummond was a religious man – he was able to quote excerpts from the Bible and speak in great detail about its concepts – that is why he appreciated the biblical beauty of the theory of creationism together with the scientific logicality of the theory of Darwinism.  He knew that for progress to continue, religious and secular thought was not an either/or situation – it was a combination of the two.  Man was not just scientific or religious.  Man was made from dust and breath – man inherited the wind.  And so, “Drummond slaps the two books together and jams them in his brief case, side by side.  Slowly, he climbs to the street level and crosses the empty square.” (Act 3, page 129)

        - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 9: The Ability to Think

   Whereas Brady stated, “...I believe in the truth of the Book of Genesis” (Act 2, Scene 2, page 101) and explicitly articulated that this is how he led his life, Drummond at no point, stated his own personal beliefs referencing the Bible over Darwinism or Darwinism over the Bible.  Brady believed word for word in the Bible – that God created man and blew life and wind into him.  He could not accept nor freely think of anything else.  His mind was closed.  Drummond, although he was accused of being an atheist, never stated Atheism to be his own belief system.  He put the Bible and Darwin’s book together at the end of the play, symbolizing his ability to question and think freely; but he never expressed his own views.  Drummond was able to quote scripture and understand Darwinism, thus showing his allowance for both and ability to draw his own conclusions.  With Drummond’s support, Brady ultimately concludes that his previous beliefs had the right to be questioned.  It was that, that mentally and then physically destroyed Brady to the point where he died.  Brady could not handle the ultimate truth of life – the ability to question. 

    However, Cates and Rachel were able to question and think freely.  Cates acknowledged and appreciated the Bible because of his roots, but he also needed to present the scientific point of view, regardless of the repercussions he might face.  He stood up for what he believed to be right – the ability to question and think freely.  Rachel eventually realized this.  In Act 3, pages 124 through 125 she realized, “[She] was always afraid of what [she] might think – so it seemed safer not to think at all...A thought is like a child inside our body.  It has to be born.  If it dies inside you, part of you dies, too! (Pointing to the book)  Maybe what MR. Darwin wrote is bad.  I don’t know...” Rachel continued to question. 

   The rest of the town was unable to do so – they were easily swayed.  Neither the judge nor Hornbeck declared his own beliefs.  They reported – either the reports of the jury, or the events in the town.   Overall, Inherit the Wind shows that the ability to question and think freely along with the ability to exercise free will are the overarching tenets by which one’s life should be led. 

          - J. A. Kind

Inherit the Wind - Prompt 5: The Second Review

   I give the play, Inherit the Wind, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee a stellar review.  The play is packed with suspense, drama, witty comebacks, symbolism, allusions, characters that have multidimensional traits, and numerous cites from famous works such as the Bible. Personalities that appeared to be one sided were actually multidimensional – making them more realistic.  People oftentimes only show one side of themselves in public when in reality they are much more complex.  Throughout the play readers were able to see this in action.  For example, when Brady exclaims in pure shock and fear, “Drummond?  Henry Drummond?” in Act 1, Scene 1, page 28 in response to the news of Drummond’s involvement with the defense, cracks in his one-dimensional façade become clear.  A new side of Brady can be shown for a split second, one that is not necessarily the confident preacher the world knows him to be.  Soon after, Brady quickly recovers his preacher persona and declares, “If the enemy sends its Goliath into battle, it magnifies our cause.” (Act 1, Scene1, page 29)  In a dramatic fashion, the contrasting qualities within the play’s characters show their true intentions and feelings.  These instances of characterization throughout the play take the entire piece to a new level.  Readers are brought into a new world where characters’ personalities are mysteriously blatant and a courtroom “exists” underneath the town square of Hillsboro.  Overall, the play deserves much praise, for its readers are taken into a strange dimension filled with multidimensional characters. 

          - J. A. Kind