dread can pound you
to a pulp if you let it
worrying that you haven’t done enough
that you’re nowhere near
where you think you’re supposed to be

guilt can drive you nuts
for wasting the entire day
but sometimes that’s what’s needed
sometimes you must be quiet
and do nothing for a while

let sick thoughts pass through you
watch them float away
sleep for two more hours, if you have to
in a dream you might find your way

the answer isn’t always Go Go Go
sometimes progress is Slow Slow Slow

change is incremental you’ll get where…

unseen light
has known all the time
I think nature
deserted
this argument
a selection
of divergent trajectories
rounded out
the mind
in a certain period of life
most were hearing poetry
spoken from within
evidence only inferential
yet conscious of the divine
the very impulse
demonstrates
verse
with some oracles entranced
rhythmical, supernatural
instances of
spontaneous possession,
hallucination
already described
all introspectively minute
and jealous of the night
appreciating the muse
while spreading excitation
all daughters of the meaning
fighting tip of the tongue struggles
such loneliness can lead
to frenzied compositions

Franco Amati 2021

Thank you to Suzy…

misunderstood person lives his life in strain because he doesn’t behave as other people do he doesn’t see or understand what the real difference is but he gets the feeling that others don’t like him very much it could be the way he stands or the way he sits could be the way he stares or the way he speaks nonetheless, these differences they hold him back, they cause him pain they keep him from knowing the relief of acceptance his differences are mostly relative to what the average person does and since he can’t keep up and can’t go…

this punctured raft
has nothing left
will no longer hold my weight
no matter what I tell myself
all action’s come too late
the sharks they’re swarming all around
sniffing drops of blood
I wonder how I’ll feel at last
when I’m swept up in the flood
no planes above, no ships around
my thirst it won’t abate
no voice in me to hail someone
before the raft deflates
my chest is tight, my face is hot
and time is running out
what hope was left
is all but gone
I must accept my fate

Franco Amati 2021

“This is…

can’t uncrush the can
can’t hold the tongue
can’t pull back the hand
the deed is done
you go ahead and try
try untelling everyone
hearts gone cold,
wardrobe sold
it’s cold here, don’t you know
hold me tight
shaking through the night
where did you even go?
don’t like this show
but it’s the only thing on
bad translation,
misinterpretation
but we’ve already been to every station
no more stops
no where else to go
let’s give this up,
this twist and tug
can we ever try again? …

Donna started watching a documentary on HBO on colonialism and genocide but after about five minutes it was too real and it made her feel bad so she switched to Netflix and spent about thirty minutes uncomfortably scanning her eyes right to left at categories that didn’t really make much sense so then she opened up the search bar and typed out KEANU REEVES but about eleven movies not starring Keanu Reeves popped up on the screen so then she was like fuck this shit I’ll see what this Peacock crap is all about it seems free, so why not…

the words we don’t say where do they go? ideas that fall just short of the air left to die in our heads I can’t help but feel in the grand aspect of things that there’s always so much more left inside the skull than ever slides off the tongue it’s the slowness of talking the struggle to cut deep the agony of awkward smiles our duty-dance with strangers the painful knowing that entire universes exist behind the walls of their eyes the tragic misunderstanding between partners too close whose love-anger-fear is too dense to believe too challenging to ever…

what if you could just tell them show them make them see everything your way if only the right combination of words could be spoken, it would ignite understanding revelation… instantiate compassion carve a path back to the place where minds and hearts align make them see the gaps in logic and the shortness of sight the wish the wish the tenuous road to a nonexistent destination what if the deaf could hear at the snap of your fingers what if the wisest intervention could make a dead heart beat again no, all of this is fantasy here, in reality…