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Almost Ten O’clock in New Delhi

Almost ten o’clock in New Delhi,
But there’s green everywhere around me at home.
The traffic light on the library wall, the young girls tank top,
The stretch of lawn like someone painted a parking lot.

Thoughts overwhelm silence
And yawning is contagious
Enlightenment followed by sleep is best
Or is it vice versa?

The stopped clock gives new meaning to
“where did the time go?”
What is considered a greater loss of our lives,
In play or in study?

The smoke follows the tree to Earth
A summer spent inside
Glasses on and an unshaven face
I am impressing no one.

July, 2008

A Young Girl in the Library

A ball of nervousness in front of me,
Foot tapping the ground incessantly,
Switching legs each minute,
Fist to her chin, studying something I probably
Don’t understand.
An unopened dictionary sits on her bag,
She’s switching from pen to pencil, pencil to pen,
Erasing mistakes then writing new ones and
Adjusting her glasses from time to time.
Scratching her head like from underneath her eyebrows
Will fall the answers.
And at what point do I tell her to relax?
It’s only a test.

July, 2008

Por Ejemplo

Does a man’s library say more about his intellect or his arrogance?

Why do we use the term “fighting for peace”?

Why do we cry over the wrong things?

Have you ever criticized someone you didn’t know personally to make yourself seem better?

Why do we require kids to go to school, but don’t require them to do any of the work?

How come we keep looking an answer to all of our problems when we know there’s not just one?

How can I drink more bottled water in one day than some people do in an entire lifetime?

Does my dog think she’s smarter than me? Is she right?

Why don’t newspapers publish poetry anymore?

If Paris Hilton can get a book deal and I can’t, does that mean she’s a better writer than I am?

Why have we made living in the ghetto seem cool?

If our technology has improved, why hasn’t our intellect?

Why am I sometimes more concerned with calling myself a writer than I am producing writing?

Is the pen mightier than the sword because it’s the pens that send the swords to war?

How come I can praise God if I win something, but not curse him if I lose something?

Why doesn’t Redman just join the Wu-Tang Clan?

How in the world did the Patriots lose the Super Bowl?

If alcoholism skips a generation and both of my grandfathers were alcoholics, am I screwed?

Whatever happened to the idea that swearing is not acceptable around women and little kids?

When did we, as a country, lose our morals?

Whatever happened to the bounce pass in basketball?

How come Vermont keeps letting child molesters out of prison?

Why did my parents always say, “this hurts me more than it hurts you?” I’m pretty sure that wasn’t true.

Why won’t someone create a third major political party?

How much does a man’s spirit have to break before he wishes to hold a gun over a pencil?

Why do we wish for our days to end then arrogantly think that our last one is far away?

Why are the dreams we have at night taken more seriously than the ones we have during the day?

Who decided which words are feminine and which are masculine? Did the words have their say?

Do two waves on distant shores ever crash at the same time?

Does any sound have a twin?

What came first, voice or thought? Who decided to combine the two? And how come we haven’t perfected that yet?

What has more influence over the advancement of human kind, good or evil?