gold bars and cotton sheets

By capt_funguy

he spat kinda ... with a sorta pride , i'd call it -
i think he thought it added an urgency to his words ...
maybe it made the conversation with him, more of an experience.

it did . it did make it an experience .





he sprayed with his words, the words he used to try and dazzle me.



details and timelines, and nicknames with surnames attached ...
all seeming so - complete .
kept the proper distance from impossible.


i watched the driplets perform on their way down, while he
associated heartlessness
with some sort of advanced geneology theory.


the assertion was, ( essentially ) that his immediate
forefathers on all sides were somehow
designated to be those responsible for the collection,
therefore - extraction, of all the gold teeth
that were pulled from all those processed on their way to
cattlecars for what would be further
distribution.





these not necessarily dentists would come to be known as ...
"the men with no ears" ... an expression i wasn't familiar with -
but it'd followed a logic, so i didn't question it . no mention was made of qualifications .
he focused wildly on what
he thought important.



they weren't dentists. i suppose they became qualified as the war went on.
everyone gets better at what they do,
given enough time, patience, and practice.




he was very clear in stating that there was no form of
anesthesia used or anything of the like.
was specific as to how many
lbs. of force it takes for each specific tooth to come free.
this froth mouth lunatic was surely knowledgable about his subject .



such pride,




he was positive that the inner strength neccessary to excell
at that stage of the overall process was somehow majestic.
that the balls that it took to reach into a screaming man's
mouth with a pair of pliers,
and rip out small fortunes while appreciating wagner playing on
the sickophone, somehow, someway made him
more than just a nobody who doesn't realize the
food chain can be climbed.
that ownership - albeit temporary stock, of another's level of excruciate was
in this case, a recordable fact, a space in a ledgerbook -
an instance followed by instance followed by instance and of course
,,, so on ...
of when a man
owned another man, and his fate, and his horror.
and that being capable was in turn being worthy . and being worthy, well ...
that of course set him apart ... genetically speaking.


he was sure he got the good blood.



i personally was so far passed the concern about
whether or not his lineage was as professed . i accepted it as a " given", and
left it be. his direct line drawn by this blood was another issue,
that infinate sadism was a cell passed trait,
that, ... i wasn't so sure i wanted to believe.



we bounced this point off of eachother like a brick, for what seemed like hours.
but it wasn't, it was minutes ....
...minutes that were finding me uncomfortable with his urgency, and his honesty.



these minutes made me wonder about how the circuitry of the brain can be passable -
like athleticism, like eye color. how maybe in there
somewhere, he is right about some things.




i was made to wonder how my great - grandfathers reacted when their slaves felt slow.


my people ran plantations in kentucky up until - of course, the middle of the civil war...
then they packed their things and returned to england.


i wouldn't tell him ... because then i'd have to be there when he
wrapped his arms around me, as if we're the same ... or worse yet..

if he abruptly ended his argument...

and hailed me the genetic victor.



when you get good at it...
a toothpull takes just about a minute.



if you own someone or something for a minute ...
that doesn't really count for much.
it doesn't compare to generations -
he'd know this.

evenstill - he can't know how these spitting minutes took ownership of me.



he'd certainly be there with a custom pair of bent nose pliers in his hand.
i don't doubt him for a second.
he'd have his orders, and his interpretations.

but where would i be?

1855

priviledged

kentucky


with a work ethic that i feel ought to be contagious...

and a clear vision of what things should look like when theyre done.




in me from somewhere is this idea of exalted purpose when it comes to
tasks at hand.


my fingers are bent, and my back is broken from sacrifice for completion's sake.

i've no patience for those who put themselves before progress...
...before function.



when the impossible is stacked and blocking horizon,

... something happens...

the impossible must be cleared...

...and god bless those who have to help me...
god bless moreso, those who don't share my enthusiasm for the greater good.


i was righteous as a child.


but i'd never really thought about it before it was spit in my face - by
someone who wished for blood on his hands.


what is in me?

i know where i'd be...

priveledged

kentucky

1855.

Unauthorized Copying Is Prohibited. Ask the author first.
© 2007 capt_funguy
Published on Wednesday, March 21, 2007.     Filed under: "Poetry"
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Comments on "gold bars and cotton sheets"

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  • Cassette On Thursday, January 4, 2018, Cassette (1144)By person wrote:

    a classic piece, for sure.

  • Mute Serenade On Monday, July 31, 2017, Mute Serenade (445)By person wrote:

    The endings, your endings.... Supreme, my dear friend.

  • carlosjackal On Wednesday, June 15, 2011, carlosjackal (3011)By person wrote:

    Reread this on my mobile phone whilst sitting on a bench on the way back home from the supermarket today...This is still a classic. Absolutely resonating masterpiece.

  • A former member wrote: *bookmarks*

  • A former member wrote: very impressive. i agree with the comment written before me. "a different kind of something"... that it is. i love the title of this poem. job well done, blessed be :)

  • colorapathy On Friday, April 11, 2008, colorapathy (50)By person wrote:

    well done.. a different kind of something. very interesting

  • colorapathy On Friday, April 11, 2008, colorapathy (50)By person wrote:

    I like works that make me think, and this is definitly a work that makes you think. very well done.

  • jack paper On Sunday, July 1, 2007, jack paper (126)By person wrote:

    this is very deep and seems to say that we see a part of ourselves reflected in others, even when they are repugnant, excellent read... you are talented

  • ashottothetemple On Thursday, May 17, 2007, ashottothetemple (37)By person wrote:

    At first glance, it looks like one long ramble, but a close look and I can tell with each passing line it finds a midsection between long and inventive. The further it goes, the more that is revealed, spectacular! +brandon+

  • Solace On Wednesday, May 2, 2007, Solace (1069)By person wrote:

    You are a tooth puller, in your own way, but you're pulling your own out - it takes a damn sight more effort to do that and spit it out like this. Some voices are barely audible, but yours is some new ancient - some leviathan

  • Solace On Wednesday, May 2, 2007, Solace (1069)By person wrote:

    Nothing will take that moment away, and each to his own retribution - to his judiciary calculated cost and renumeration. Privilege is preferable to poverty and piracy - but finds itself in the end as pitiful...

  • Solace On Wednesday, May 2, 2007, Solace (1069)By person wrote:

    I'd rather be in your kitchen at any time, a bottle of something cheap and unimportant - a low sussurus of some old music - just minds unwinding themselves out...

  • A former member wrote: Your prose are fit to lift heavy, like a muscle man pumped to the gills on amphetamines and bovine growth hormone….no point in having a heart attack you didn’t work hard for….right?

  • sixsixnine On Saturday, April 28, 2007, sixsixnine (477)By person wrote:

    what a trip! makes me see it all so diffrently. thanx *669*

  • Army Barbie On Saturday, April 21, 2007, Army Barbie (324)By person wrote:

    Oh wow...this is amazing. Why havent I read it before?

  • A former member wrote: "I was righteous as a child", and were the most of us. Hard write, and with a certain brilliance I think. Far beyond my own work. HEMINGWAY. -END

  • odetobarbie On Saturday, April 7, 2007, odetobarbie (12)By person wrote:

    that spit tastes bloody. 'just cuz you call it your job, don't make it right' - coolhandluke cheers - ode

  • Jonas On Monday, March 26, 2007, Jonas (720)By person wrote:

    with the correct intersections of time space public awareness and sentiment this piece would easily have the bouyancy to float into immortality in so far as humanity's printed pages can reckon it. my understanding of the world is now more than it was.

  • elisa On Sunday, March 25, 2007, elisa (1616)By person wrote:

    makes me think of some kind of home breed supremacist ... local vision and limited perception...... a dangerous right [Reich] of power and dominance to assume over another human.....

  • elisa On Sunday, March 25, 2007, elisa (1616)By person wrote:

    ...... “A man has no ears for that to which experience has given him no access” -Friedrich Nietzsche ..... i hate Nietzsche....... but this is a brilliant piece of poetry.... you leave me open mouthed... but without words.

  • carlosjackal On Sunday, March 25, 2007, carlosjackal (3011)By person wrote:

    :) *dumbstruck* Like Urban, I'm lost for words like I'm the one wiping spittle from my face and still taking in the moments previous.

  • carlosjackal On Monday, March 26, 2007, carlosjackal (3011)By person wrote:

    Going through this again, this is such a stark, brilliant piece. To face the most sickening of bigots and try to avoid their brain-wash influence..Rock on, Capt!

  • A former member wrote: Jesus H dude. I don't even know what to say after this, feel like I've been raped of whatever innocense I had left. Feels very holacaustic but in a before and after its time kind of way. Fuck. ~Ryan

  • birdwell On Thursday, March 22, 2007, birdwell (140)By person wrote:

    i can taste the burnt wooden chalky flavor of broken teeth right now... completely vivid, mind demolition.. boooom… you surely haven’t lost your touch ~db~

  • Bella Butchery On Thursday, March 22, 2007, Bella Butchery (724)By person wrote:

    such a raw piece filled that pinpoints male egotism, male supremecy, geneticism, bonding. this was wow. my family has a hand in social supremecy living in rural louisiana and all,

  • Bella Butchery On Thursday, March 22, 2007, Bella Butchery (724)By person wrote:

    so i feel that the stratification since the mid-1800's of social and judicial fiber never really changed its values. this was fucking brutally honest and

  • Bella Butchery On Thursday, March 22, 2007, Bella Butchery (724)By person wrote:

    this was powerfull and makes me feel better with all the new artists on this site that lack the courage and conviction to trully look at themself and really dissect and analyze. bravo!

  • Sin On Wednesday, March 21, 2007, Sin (1168)By person wrote:

    this was well worth the wait..i felt like i was right there witnessing the whole conversation..you have a depth that most poets on this site lack and its refreshing *tips hat* this was damn good ~kristy

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