Edited Piece Poem by RIC BASTASA

the structure of
life and our belief system
must be simplified:

yes, there is man
and up there is heaven
and down there is earth,
it is very much like
the Japanese flower
arrangement, and come to
think of it,
the woman stands up
and registers
an objection:

'where is my place? '
actually, this makes no
sense, this poem
it is the lull of time unused
the rhythm
of aching eyes
and boring existence
the way

to complicate things
like some pubic hairs

thoughts entangled
to the traps of the
webs of the spider-woman

one eye looking
blankly at the monitor
the other betrays it

with a non-mindedness
the numbness of sight
the shortness of time
and the lack of genuine breath
where is the exit
door from all these lulls?