'COMMERCIAL FREE' and 'USE ALL AVAILABLE DOORS' by George Ryan
COMMERCIAL FREE
1
One in four American voters is
a white evangelical. One in five
Californians of voting age is
found to be ineligible to vote.
2
According to her
both the cat and I
can be very sweet
when we are hungry
but once we are fed
we get mean again
3
A text message received from Salt Lake City:
I am at a high school music recital.
Highlights have been dual saxophones playing
the Star Wars theme and brother-sister duo
doing Come Together with just drums and bass.
Wish me luck. It’s only the intermission.
4
A dog sneezes.
God bless you, I say
without thinking.
A woman holding
the leash says, Thank you.
5
Cat and I
dressing gown
on a couch
unmoving
two brown lumps
USE ALL AVAILABLE DOORS
1
Norma has a plastic hairdryer
manufactured in Costa Rica.
A hairdryer not made in China?
One made in Central America!
Should she inform the Smithsonian?
2
She noted that
very often
American
diplomats were
male, pale and Yale
3
Entomologist Edward O. Wilson warned:
If humankind were to disappear, the world
would regenerate back to the rich state of
equilibrium that existed about
ten thousand years ago. If insects vanish
the environment will collapse in chaos.
4
Lines of equal syllables
gather words into a flock,
noses pointing all one way.
I concede
that having words scatter
here and there
can have greater effect.
5
The young woman in a black dress
with a skeleton on its front
is vibrant and oblivious
like a child playing with a skull,
dropping marbles in the sockets
Artwork by Colin Vestal
Instagram @colinr0bert_art