The Domestication of the Species

By Randy Ai

I am a highly regulated, domesticated being
Attrition of individuality has blinded my seeing
The rules of this society overextend their mark
As I roam around freely in this leash-free park

Operation Holepunch

A poem by Randy Ai

Dedicated to Colette Weihrauch

Look out! For this clandestine operation

Of great importance and greater implication

So wisely chosen in name and diction

Represents the empty space left behind!

Where curious office creatures scurry

I find them with thorough sound and fury

There dormant the desk lamp sheepishly lies

Among those stationary office supplies

I will liberate you from your metal vise

Swiftly under the moonlight’s guise

You will be MINE! My precious device

A servant of my insatiable vice

Two pencils, a pen, and a pad of paper

Ten large envelopes and a rubber eraser

These items I free from the office clasp

They belong now to my binding grasp

And what can stop my relentless imagination?

This great conquest invites no hesitation

Take heed of what my fertile fingers produce:

A bottle of sparkling wine and orange juice!

Even the MLA Handbook – once thought secure

Out from its warm cocoon I shall lure

And possess it with all the zeal and might

Of a madwoman in the clandestine night!

Songs of Insomnia

By Randy Ai

It’s 2AM and I can’t sleep

Can’t stop the crickets in my head

The coffee in my veins is dry

My heart beats to the tune of dead

I am the stream for wayward thoughts

Lost love, guilt, and conquest past

A hundred wants won’t let me rest

A thousand fears won’t let me pass