The Child Within

My voice has a quiver.
That's where you store the arrows
Before you shoot

My voice sings deeper than
It speaks. Some people
Hear tears hidden in the words
I say.

I'm not afraid of, say, swarms
Of locust. When I want to weep, I do.
It's no different than pissing.

Some nights I can feel
My voice melting down
In greenish layers, & luminescent
Like a plutonium cough drop.

At times I use my voice
To laugh
In order to prove
I am a man.

Once I whacked out my voice
With a two-by-four
So the fruit would grow
Faster on the plum tree
Beside the house.
I would utter a phrase
Any phrase--it wasn't like a chant,
No ebb nor flow

And when it was about
Two and half feet in front of me
I would swing the wood
And just beat the living crap
Out of whatever I said.

Jim Carroll
Void of Course

I decided it was time to be a redhead again because I thought it would be fun. So I laughed as the sun hit my red, red locks.