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Susan M. Williams
In the World of Hip Hop and Rap
and a magazine called The Source,
you'll find it,
what you haven't been looking for,
with words in captions like:
"Respect the Architect. Or Get
Broken"
and in photos of gold chains
adorning the "architect's" neck,
hoisted skyscraper high atop
monstrous-sized jerseys and baggy
pants, but below a tilted ball cap,
perhaps a scowl
and in the lyrics,
far from the music of Lawrence Welk,
Bennie Goodman or even
Sting.
Damn that something that sounds
so wrong, Bitch, that makes a Mother of a
something else you could never buy or
win, the from-out-of-nowhere
adrenalin that grabs us by the
shoulders, turns us around, and stares
us in the face as if to say,
the best design takes more than
expectation and
testing the structure we know
reminds us
we're still wholly alive.
Obedience School Drop Out
If I close my eyes while the dog
licks melted chocolate chips from
between my fingers, it feels like
water, pushing my hand back and
forth while it laps and if I imagine
a little more, maybe she's not the
same mutt that barks ferociously at
the next door neighbor in his pajamas
and robe, gathering Sunday's paper
from the drive, trying to kill me!
my dog points out,
and she may not even want to
watch the fly, buzzing between the
window pane and her paws, causing
her to "leave prints!" the guests will
gasp at the next, expected
dinner party, lifting their noses while
sipping Chardonnay and for a minute, I
rather like my best friend's endless
coat, her dog breath and wet nose, so
cold too early in the morning and I can't
help but welcome her, in her own home, to
behave in ways "civilized" people
are supposed to hope against,
eyes closed with everything else
occurring naturally around them.
©2003 by Susan M. Williams
Susan M. Williams works for the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research
on Human Development in Nashville, Tennessee. Her first published poetry
appeared in www.halfdrunkmuse.com in January, 2004.
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