Original Piece:

Cartoon Physics, part 1

by Nick Flynn

Children under, say, ten, shouldn't know
that the universe is ever-expanding,
inexorably pushing into the vacuum, galaxies

swallowed by galaxies, whole

solar systems collapsing, all of it
acted out in silence. At ten we are still learning

the rules of cartoon animation,

that if a man draws a door on a rock
only he can pass through it.
Anyone else who tries

will crash into the rock. Ten-year-olds
should stick with burning houses, car wrecks,
ships going down -- earthbound, tangible

disasters, arenas

where they can be heroes. You can run
back into a burning house, sinking ships

have lifeboats, the trucks will come
with their ladders, if you jump

you will be saved. A child

places her hand on the roof of a schoolbus,
& drives across a city of sand. She knows

the exact spot it will skid, at which point
the bridge will give, who will swim to safety
& who will be pulled under by sharks. She will learn

that if a man runs off the edge of a cliff
he will not fall

until he notices his mistake.

The Laughing Heart
BY CHARLES BUKOSWKI

your life is your life
dont let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you cant beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

Let Me Tell You What a Poem Brings
BY Juan Felipe Herrera

Before you go further,
let me tell you what a poem brings,
first, you must know the secret, there is no poem
to speak of, it is a way to attain a life without boundaries,
yes, it is that easy, a poem, imagine me telling you this,
instead of going day by day against the razors, well,
the judgments, all the tick-tock bronze, a leather jacket
sizing you up, the fashion mall, for example, from
the outside you think you are being entertained,
when you enter, things change, you get caught by surprise,
your mouth goes sour, you get thirsty, your legs grow cold
standing still in the middle of a storm, a poem, of course,
is always open for business too, except, as you can see,
it isnt exactly business that pulls your spirit into
the alarming waters, there you can bathe, you can play,
you can even join in on the gossipthe mist, that is,
the mist becomes central to your existence.

Those Winter Sundays
BY Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?






Parachutes

By ten years old, I knew the story of Peter Pan
Built a canopy around my bed and crowned myself princess
I ruled the soccer field and called the library my throne room
My skin, comprised of words, housed ink filled veins
I was a bit of a storyteller
Who always preferred endings to beginnings
And fantasies to reality

I used to lie on my back, on my bed fit for a queen, and look at the stars
A little galaxy swirling silently on my ceiling like the sky in Van Goghs Starry Night
(Partner) It was beautiful wasnt it
Until I realized I could see them in the day
Do you remember the conversation?
(Partner) I think it went a little like-
Hey, the sun is out so why are there clear plastic star shapes on my ceiling?
My father, who wasnt feeling much in the mood to continue the charade,
laid a hand on my shoulder
Youre getting older, he said
(Partner) Its time for you to grow up now
Its time for me to grow up now
My mother told me never to tell a lie

Peter Pan was never real
(Partner) All princesses must become queen
(Partner) Politics, tangible, real world problems
I wasnt much of a soccer player
(Partner) A little too slow
Santa Claus unmasked on Christmas Eve
(Partner) Its time for you to grow up now
The tooth fairy mustve forgotten
(Partner) Its time for you to grow up now
My mother told me never to tell a lie
But thats childhood
One giant fantasy concealing deeply distorted reality, yet all based in truth
The universal truth that we all must fall
But the human belief that assisted falling is somehow more beneficial
(Both) Its why we invented parachutes,
(Both) to ease the drop

But one day, when the ground is yanked from under our feet
(Partner) And no parachute can save us
We will reach inside our minds for the fairy tales
(Partner) Spill the stories we stealthily stored away into our hearts
Look at the brother, the sister we have created out of thin air
Knowing they will care for us until our last day
(Both) Discovering the laws of physics as adults
(Both) We fall as children once again
(Both) Dreamers recognizing our mistake