Spring Sing Outspoken

Featured Spoken Word Artist

Super

when I was 9

I moved across town to the hills

where coyote howls and 2 am train whispers

mingle in cool Bay Area breeze

there was a fence around my neighborhood

separating civilization 

from wilderness

when I was 12 

I wanted the super power to transform

to become a coyote on a whim 

to howl   howl howl   in the wind

and jump the fence 

between civilization and wilderness

but when i was 14 

reckless howls became blood curdling threats

ethereal train whistles, blood freezing screeches

I learned to love the fence

I once despised 

I learned to fear the wilderness and coyotes on the other side

I learned to fear the wilderness on the other side

I learned to fear the other side

I learned to fear

the superpower I wanted changed

from lupine transformation to lupine subjection 

I wanted to super power tame the beasts 

     tame       Them

when I was 19

evenings changed from grassy slopes to college dorm rooms 

from haunting whistles and coyote howls

to thumping Thursday night bass 

or 2 am poker sessions

and I realized I’d become what

I wanted at 12 and feared at 14

howling laughter roving Roebling

wilderness under LA moonlight

dancing on stolen land and blood-red bricks

Now I’m 22, 

and back home

I walk well worn walks

seeing with new eyes, hearing with new ears

and hoping for a totally new power super

the power to speak with them

not become-subjugate-eliminate them

but to talk

     what’s a coyote party like?

     is coyote-pack howling like carpool karaoke?

     do the winters still get cold and wet?

     how's the other side of the fence

     how's the other side?