EXITING AMERICA'S BRAINPAN FASTER THAN A ZAPRUDER BULLET

a sonnet for Stephen Joseph Walter

You, bloodstained neuropath, hail from a lust tribe

whose bar coded groupmind bleats: Inhale! Inject! Imbibe!

Why not leave off shooting thrill shit into its archaic pit

when you don’t like the limbic kill shot one bit?

Why not transmit honest aims beyond stunted whims

like uncaught limbs

on unbought trees, swinging free,

synaptic breeze wafting with ease o’er your spree?

Why not find some berth in the cells’ toxic earth

for growth of what merchants loathe: True worth?

Why not implore no more your core whore, dealer, liar?

Nor heed your inner judge, assassin, mummifier?

Why not halt mad urges for clout? End a grim self-rout?

Why not surrender the grey redoubt and scout a way out?

Feb. 3--10, 2006