Voice Control

Voice control

wave function rolls
                over tongue
say it
       say it
                   it again

thoughts like
               french kiss
          ear lick
                        mind meld

right thought (check)
          right speech (check)
              lights
                       camera
                    (right) action

communication out
        of focus

monkey teaching dolphin
                to climb a tree
                               both agree that
                         oranges are oranges

peel means skin
         skin does not mean peel
    you can skin a banana
              but you can’t peel a cat
you can tuna fish
                     can the piano
                                              it’s grating my nerves

false positives
      doubly negated negatives
           placebos work
if you let them

everything is a matter
                                      of percentages
                  90% of the time
          from vegas to wall street
             but I live in kansas city

off-broadway is still broadway
            Paris is still Paris
                    and still burning

I make a claim
                        then stake it
       I have no idea what
                                           that expression means

none of the words I invented
                  are in the dictionary
        I shout them
                       from rooftops
                            on cold nights

                              words are just a song
                                 I don’t know the tune

translate english into
                              english into english
                and the original
                              meaning will be lost

 this corn maze is too big
                                       for me
          I’ll never make it
                                        out alive
                      if only a bee were here
                         to perform a dance
              to show me the way

I recite my lines     
     stage directions say
                                     to exit left
             I do
                                               the curtain closes
     no one applauds