emergency exits

find a backdoor, a tunnel, or an area to jump over it. to see the box, you have to be able to get out of it. that's what thinking outside the box means.

calisthenics

the mind! the mime!

we’re poor hackers. if it goes well, it takes the better half

of our lives to crack the code,

figure out the soul’s alphanumeric sequence & break in.

minutes, however, for its alarm to go off,

if we succeed,

for the heart to shut down, change the password,

& lock us out of ourselves, once more.

add to the mix the fact that america the beautiful

no longer feels like home-field advantage,

& the body with its case sensitive story,

well-documented history,

the toilet with its latest toy sending us mixed messages,

texting or tweeting us at inopportune times.

& we have ourselves not a ballgame but another blowout,

8 to 0 score.

we have ourselves —oh, the horror! the horror!

the case for another happy pill,

for another private joke

or another lap around our own penrose steps.

which is not the way to get in shape,

to induce muscle failure.

c. a. campos, 2011

houston

the mold, mildew, humidity,

the lack of fresh air. the soul’s an inhospitable,

uninhabitable planet.

c. a. campos, 2011

lipotimia

con luz de quirófano algunas veces se me acerca,

con luz de microscopio 

o sino con aquella que se utiliza para interrogar, 

para sonsacar

otras casi a oscuras, con la luz decorativa, 

casi inofensiva de la luna, de la tele o linterna

el mismo objeto ante mí, el mismo sujeto de siempre

se me presenta de pascuas a ramos

y a regañadientes: 

exigiéndome novedades o rindiéndome cuentas 

con escasa autarquía, escasa eudemonía

se me aparece de sopetón dizque para alterarme

los nervios,

para que no tenga tiempo de esconder la botella,

de esquivarle la mirada 

el muy alelado se cree o me cree una autoridad

c. a. campos, 2011

the fine print

it’s unhealthy not to have secrets, not to have stuff

that only you are privy to,

to feel like you have to or want to air them out,

distributing them unevenly among your friends,

among strangers in a bar

or among people you’re counting on never seen again

or that you’re counting on being half as drunk as you

when it comes to protecting your identity, your privacy,

or your decency,

to give or provide unfinished portraits of yourself

is the safest & most considerate way to go:

because, between you & me, most of our secrets

are not as shameful as we think,

not as interesting to others as they may appear to us

managing the words or secrets that come out of our mouths

is just as important as managing our finances

or postponing till a later date our debts,

our face-to-face meeting with the condescending inner child

it’s definitely not okay if others see you as an open book,

as a whore (since this is the kind of language in which

i seem to explain myself best)

it’s unhealthy & unsanitary; it hurts the other person

& you tend to lose credibility, flexibility

forthcomingness is overrated, if you ask me,  

& a risky proposition,

not to mention that it comes along with a significant number

of penalties or hidden feeds: what america is all about;

it ought to be a measure of last resort  (like bungee jumping

or writing poetry)

so do not bring up for the umpteenth time the matter of trust,

do not get offended whenever i keep things to myself,

whenever people dear to you

do not share everything about themselves:

none of us is supposed to

c. a. campos, 2011