A MAN PURCHASES A SIGNED LIMITED EDITION ILLUSTRATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, VALUED AT FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS, FOR THE SINGLE PURPOSE OF USING IT TO KILL A MOSQUITO; HE THEN DOES SO.

a pledge of allegiance
for a house divided against itself
goes something like

despite the noise to the contrary
we have always been divided
and never should we stand
for when we crawl
we do so
as the sniper in the field

a national motto
for those who have no use for one

“tyranny is tyranny
let it come from where it may”

worn as an emblem of our worth
the badges we wear are inscribed with

for when you can no longer present opportunities
you will become an opportunity

we recite this
we state this
we wear this
cognizant of these three things

- higher war casualty rates from impoverished states

- jail time is meted out for seventeen percent of those who embezzle bank funds
and ninety one percent of those convicted of bank robberies

- the highest incarceration rates in the world

have you not also always
secretly wanted to strangle some species of waterfowl
so that you might instantly regret it

in this instance and those that will follow

they say in the carved halls that
such ample space for hands
should not go unrequited

where and when they are incapable of making distinctions between the neck and the quill

[LIMITED EDITION ILLUSTRATION, MOSQUITO - performance / sculpture]

2013