James McLain Poems

Grape vines that stretch left or right to infinity.
Clusters of grapes where one grape represents our universe.
Take off towards the edge in a space ship, the observable
edge, the edge that no one here can yet see.
...

You have rewarded your babies from their infancy at being able to
hate and discriminate
against other's that don't sound or look like you.
Your success was demonstrated by them at day care.
...

And death should have been it's name and
death has been left behind.
It crawls northward a bit to the west a bit
more north then turns around for sloppy seconds.
...

Parent's that fail or those whom have children only
to increase their public assistance.
Million's sadly do.
...

Even if there once were God's they have long since
moved onto more interesting things.
Violent stupid people are not in the least very interesting.
Had these cruel violent people died at birth,
...

She was damaged at a very young age becoming sexualy active
long before she should have.
As the strange men her mother brought home in her need to
address unhealthy prolictivities.
...

These are the sturdy women.
Women whom wish to make a difference.
Women in control of their sexuality.
Women of etiquette,
...

The fly paper hung like fresh sprigs of mint
catching there intended.
Every square inch covered in bodies of which
some still moved.
...

I wake up every night at Johns, it's 3: 16 AM
The window in the room looks down the length of the alley.
I have long since had this dream, of living above
this alley.
...

At Dickinson Elementary in Tampa in the early sixties.

I watched my school principal
through her window
...