| cause
 Not because we know any better
 
 and not because
 there is enough politics
 in the colour of flesh
 to last a lifetime
 
 even though silence
 is also a stain, and we’d
 rather breed questions
 than children
 
 how many
 of our days and nights
 squandered, bidding for
 this quiet attention
 to what could be
 
 already we ask too much
 for permission, when we are not
 the ones who need forgiveness
 
 so much has already
 been lost, and we are only
 just beginning to bleed
 
 so not because verse has no future
 film budgets are miniscule,
 we have no stamina for prose
 far too many people
 will never actually read this
 
 since words have their own
 particular lust, respawning
 in the least expected places
 
 despite the imperfectability of joy
 the transience of skyline,
 and the persistence of hope
 
 since it didn't do anything
 having come this far
 made nothing happen
 
 let this poem be.
 
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 30 August 2001   12:44 hours
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