[New-Poetry] When You Know Too Much

[James Cervantes]

On 10/24/06, JforJames at aol.com <JforJames at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> When You Know Too Much
>
>
>
> None of the change in your pockets
>
> will satisfy the newspaper box at the corner,
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> It can't be coaxed open with any
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> denomination other than a screwdriver.
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> Only an illiterate would read between
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> the lines. When you know too much
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> it's easy to stare into the middle distance.
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>
>
> A piece of shrapnel in the chest might
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> be mistaken for a medal. It's easy to see the origami
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> ballots floating in the river.  Your ears attune
>
> themselves and start to pick up stray signals
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> out of the air. The words are hard to make out,
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> but the static sounds like The Constitution
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> ripping. You might have to wring
>
>
>
> the knowledge from your brain like dirty water
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> from a sponge. When you know too much
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> it's easy to taste heavy metals in a glass of beer.
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> Every chair in the theatre aches to receive you,
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> to feel you fall back into the plush
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> as the lights go down and another dream
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> begins to unfold upon the screen.
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>
>
> So what if you can't tell smoke from clouds
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> anymore.. When you know too much it's easy
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> to see through walls, even inside the labyrinth
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> of the mall. Now they call the slum the historic district.
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> But people are still sleeping under highway ramps.
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> When you know too much it's easy to forget:
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> Amnesia is a country, isn't it?

Yes, and not at all "like."

-- Jim
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