four from north carolina

"Twenty-Two Years"

For Dylan Thomas

Twenty-two years my eyes have seen past.
(Though closed they remain to much of what has come before.)
In the shrinking box that is love came the walls crowding ’round me
The unexpected package in the mail
Amidst the snowstorm that has covered my own address.
Wearing only hat for head, and no sweater for chest,
My hands willing to tear tape from cardboard,
Instead I crawl inside without knowledge of the container’s will
I am confined to mind separate from heart.

"Wearing second hand clothes is a nice fuck you to mom and dad"

"The piss bum trying to sell his scribbles is just a “nigger” trying to get money for crack but Basquiat is a genius. Jean didn’t have to live in a box but it was a nice selling point and a reason to get hooked on heroin. Addiction is frowned upon unless art is involved, then it’s romantic. With a few great white minds involved, friendly safe negro art was created and viola! High priced scribbles for all! It was also a safe and cutesy blueprint for fake graffiti branding, paving the way for Obey and other streetwear geniuses."

Anthony Pappalardo speaks some awesome truths about America in the essay, "Irony, White Power and Obama. Nu-Racism Part 2." Please read on...