poem of the day 08.10.11

tree branches

i am breaking tree branches
outside in the unbearable heat

my face is red
my hair is matted with sweat

but i feel all right
breaking tree branches in the heat

someone abandoned them

two thick tree branches
that fell from a massive oak across the street

they put them over here for me to break

i’m at the job

everyone told me that i’m the boss
that the tree branches are my responsibility

they told me to call 311
and have someone from the city
come and get them

this city couldn’t catch its own tail
let alone collect a tree

so i get to play the rugged individualist
dueling within a 21st century malaise

i’m used to gathering nothing but sound bites
and video clips

pale with a digital sickness

but i’m breaking tree branches in the heat

my black t-shirt is covered in dust
my hands are sticky from the leaves

there are cuts all over my fingers
scrapes up and down my arms

i’m bleeding my own blood
drinking the salt of my sweat

i’m unchained to this life and desk
wiping shards of bark out of my eyes

i’ve forgotten those pc bullyboys
with their emails and rs feeds
gathering leaves into piles

i’ve let the college degrees yellow
in envelopes in the closet

i’m just so full of life
and goddamned happy to be
breaking tree branches over my knees
in this ever-loving heat

brother, i’ve been feeling down for months
but i’m working on a dream

brother, i’ve been locked up for the summer
but i’m learning and communing with nature now

brother, life’s hit a dead end for me
and the government is letting it all go to hell

but i’m breaking tree branches
searching for something with my bare hands
grasping wood chips between rough fingers

and i feel like a new man

just to think
last night i sat there on the couch
prepared for another work week

i sat there on the couch prepared to die

but now i’m shoving twigs and sticks and green
into big black garbage bags

breaking tree branches in the heat

if only they could see me now
those yes men and administration bores
if only they could see me
those sycophants who think that they control
my destiny

if only they could see me
bearded with the dull look removed from my eyes

i think they’d run away in fear

they’d know for sure that they lost me

they’d leave me here
with the sun beating down
on the cracked pavement

and all of the kind people of the world
walking their dogs

bending over to get another handful of life
breaking tree branches of bliss and eternity
in this revival of heat.