by Kelley K. Vance
day started like any other
news crews blurting into
conversations i was
having with myself
playing their interest-free cards
as if i’d charge ahead
fueling economy
then sirens stopped abruptly
as they so often start
driving down arterial
job paid under-the-table
without a license & expired tabs
no insurance, carload of trash
then parade begins
press of populace growing closer
i can’t join yer revolution
sisters & brothers
friends & lovers
people make me nervous
into mental riot gear
i lurch protecting this
private party-of-one
voicing protests on paper
preach to my choir
until i
bite my tongue falling backward
into a time i don’t recall
ever having inhabited before
reverse deja vu
all is new & unsure
no fate stamp no odious tasks hanging
possibility crackles
& this minute on the fire escape
i hear a dog barking &
it’s not me
seeing swans in asphalt
wincing at swinge across knuckles
hard-earned arthritis
pull up a chair sighing
subsonic whistle of moment suspended
hands feel sun going down
below the watermark
dusk is my greatest success
while city takes tolls &
turns ‘em into bridges going nowhere
road is hovering excitement
rough & coming
Kelley K. Vance grew up in a stifling suburb of south Seattle . She attended some college, never finished a degree. A self-published book of poems, Inkrot, was put out in a limited edition in 1991 by tung d’press. She composed/performed music & lyrics in two bands in the 1980s, Drama Bums and Poptarts. She appeared in one film and read poetry for the soundtrack of another by the local filmmaker Jon Behrens. Her visual art (Lethal Dolls) has been shown at Black Box Gallery and a sample can be viewed at www.myspace.com/tung_dpress.
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