Sydney Gayle Maddox

Forecast: Numbing

Rain in December
a plastic consolation prize
substituted by
God Incorporate

multinational conglomerate
swapping out
lowering production costs
popular survey says
they aren’t listening

stealing away energy
whispering sluggishness
lethargy is so in vogue
windowpane litany
wrapping around eardrums
lulling away worry
silencing complaints

rebel against
early morning catatonia
silver cloud conspiracy
internal linkup successful
contacting that imp
The Puddle Jumper

mirrored convention pools
shattering
cultural consciousness streams
converge diverge
galoshes become
instruments of truth seeking

thoughts realigned
spread and arrayed
a banquet for inner feasting
bone gnawing time passing
standing where snow
should be falling

called to battle
grey cloud monotony
willed upon me

Sydney Gayle Maddox

- 2004 -

New Fall Blues

A silent revisit--
images and ideas
forming and breaking
ripples suggesting this
covert subterranean action
stirring the surface
of my inner wellspring

(Remembering the whisper of
the cloud-blued Knobs)

Old kentucky maples
elegantly gnarled elders
(making a living off of dirt like
my family used to do)
miss my questions
my stories told
Beneath whispering leaves
of trumpery gold

This city pours lye
on memories cherished
Arch sodium lights
Censor starlight
Silence constellations
Putting a megawatt glitch
in mental processing
Some tenacious images
manage to survive

So much beauty
enlightenment enrichment and
No soul to be found
in this marble and concrete
A sorry stand-in
for bluegrass and March breezes

If only education
Was really education

Sydney Gayle Maddox

- 2004 -