... "You Caused Me to Do This" — Seung-Hui Cho, 23-Year-Old killer of 32 people at Virginia Tech University
machine-shaped
beasts of prey
stalk school-day
hallways
like arcade
shooting galleries
caught
in the undertow
of mad
mind-made rivers
of no-return
while millions
shiver in shock
on their knees
praying
to primetime
TV psych-docs
for some on-line
healing
while helpless
reflections
caught
in the glass
of classroom
windows
keep turning pages
hoping
the answer
that might slow
this crazy
breakdown
will show itself soon
he's tired
of being
tracked
by the ministry
of facts
cased
traced
& placed
in a Microsoft
database
tired
of being
watched
by ubiquitous
inconspicuous
cameras
mounted
on every corner
counting
every head
who fails to
stop on red
go on green
tired
of paying
the going rate
for a four-bedroom
dream
& fifty-six
pick-a-tone
cell phones
to stay
on top of his
by-the-clock
tick tock
up-to-the-minute
marching orders
toward shiny
new shrines
tired
of having
to live
another hour
powered by
opec nations
capitalizing on his
capitalistic
consumer situation
Lincoln Navigator
obligations
tired
of watching
American Idol
on a wide-screen
high-d
Chinese TV
tired
of being forced
to listen
to rap-rock
hip-hop
non-stop
bass vibrations
emanating from
every ugly
little car
jarring his
peace-of-mind
mind in pieces
the doctor
can't mend
somebody
send for
the king's
horses
the king's
men
dial 9-1-1
man on the run
under the gun
apply
directly to the forehead
apply directly
to the forehead
apply
directly
to
the
forehead....................
DB Cox can be found in the early-morning hours, bent over a Fender Strat, in roadhouses and juke joints throughout the south. He describes his playing style as "look at life through drunken, godless eyes." He has published three books of poetry. His first chapbook is entitled Passing For Blue, and is available from Rank Stranger Press. Two other chapbooks, Lowdown and Ordinary Sorrows, are available from Pudding House Publications. His latest full size collection called Empty Frames can be picked up on-line at Main Street Rag Publishing.