– for mike
the promised land is quarantined. double plurals are discontinued
and our melodies hated. religious and destitute
orphans fitted for coffins then cloned to the capillaries
learn the slavery of slow finish in the metaphysics of the ghetto
who will govern in our year of sleep  who translates these scriptures of fire
who will prevent this orchestra from diluting our emotions
hear how we walk among decibels remembered
intend something grey during the fireworks of flowers
rule your living room with an iron yawn*
(*except when apartments behave like nuns praying amongst flames)
study the radiant entomology of inconsistent skin; hammock it richly
its how we consume what’s most important
while the vocalist sings her scars loose, the senator arrives by email
in your mind, he says, there is a question about the color yellow
in this rainforest of cotton lit by christmas light fireflies
we write letters to the dead on peeled onion skin
in your seawater room there are sunken alphabets
and languages unaccounted for
in the ecology of the warehouse there is a metric ton of unclaimed dreams
spinning and bleeding convex light everywhere at once.
—James Cagney
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James Cagney is a writer and poet from Oakland, Ca. He’s appeared as a featured artist at Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea in Vancouver, San Francisco Public Library, La Pena Cultural Center, Mahogany Restaurant and others. His work has been published in ishmaelreedpub.com, Un-mute.com, mediacakemagazine.com, Caduceus, Sparring with the Beatnik Ghosts, and Barbershop Chronicles.  Find more of James’ work at Dirtyratattack.com
