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matt jablonski
matt jablonski lives in elyria, ohio, is an educator and his
work has appeared in 15 or so chapbooks self-published by octagon
free arts. his work is represented on the collaborative spoken
word cd "beat town: contemporary poetry from ohio's western
reserve," as well as on hundreds of bar napkins.
Works on this page:
liberty
winter, to the point and in pieces
patriotic me
Liberty
in the clouded afternoon light,
---------- beyond my steaming cup,
cars with salt-stained underbellies
---------- and funeral flags
process down Broad Street
out coffeehouse windows.
death, even the sidewalks are salted.
---------- death,
the ground is thawing
---------- spring decay in January
and i am thirsty.
a cruiser passes by Ely Square
---------- every few minutes.
96 police officers occupy my city
---------- with flashing lights and side-arms
and i am free.
liberty is a concept for the classroom,
---------- recession is reality.
to overcome these economic chains
---------- tax cuts for our wealthy,
---------- manufacturing to Mexico,
---------- free trade with Chinese sweatshops,
---------- retail jobs, and
---------- 'trickle down' for American workers
---------- they are thirsty,
---------- but they are free.
Winter, To The Point And In Pieces
watching the dirty ashtray for hours
slide guitar on my stereo
yellow fingers live from Nashville
wind across frozen parking lots
i huddle quickstepping to car
there used to be trees here
wait for my phone
not to ring
i hope to stay inside today
wet sidewalks shine,
streetlights give away
the falling snow
almost made it
2 days without cigarettes,
but got twitchy
Patriotic me
Could one scream shake them
from complacency?
Who's to know 'cause i can't tell
---------- silently raging as
bombs miss their mark
killing anyway-
Cities smolder,
---------- foundries of burning flesh, but
there's got to be
---------- something on the TV
so i don't have to think
---------- about these things
or any other,
but to wave my flag
so all folks can see
patriotic me-
---------- Johnny's got his gun
and i'd rush
---------- to my local factory
---------- if there were one-
i've given up on my newsman
---------- 'cause it's anglo-unoriginal,
---------- a one sided story
makes me angry,
it interferes
---------- with my true American
apathy
maintain it i must,
the FBI is already
---------- living in my computer
---------- my backyard is next
"The Secret Police!
The Secret Police!
All hail the United States
---------- Secret Police!"
That's what my neighbors must see
patriotic me-
Flags on porches and patches,
---------- flying above buildings,
goose stepping
---------- a higher moral order,
"i'll have a martini,
prayer in school, and
bombs, lots of bombs
for Afghani (soon Iraqi)
women and children."
NYC is digging out
and here i am
---------- insensitive,
---------- yet uneasy when planes fly low and
sickly saddened so
---------- gut wrenched
---------- on a regular basis
imagining
What if me?
Mother gone?
Father gone?
---------- the childhood nightmare,
recurring,
a blackened world
---------- where a kid
might be left
Alone
in a land far away waiting
for food to drop from the sky, though
"an eye for an eye"
is all you'll hear from
---------- patriotic me-
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