GROWING UP WITH TELEVISION

    THE PENGUIN

    There is a penguin, under the
    lids of my eyes.

      The French maiden

    walking the invisible steps
    of the lonely Mexican church-

      is she only the light
      of Polaris borrowing my
      winding staircase
      eyes?

    shivering with the penguins

      I'll never see the North Star.

    SNAKES

    I was told I would be attacked
      and go blind

    if I continued watching the
    necklace glares

      the red dress

    strangling my changing accents

    I would never live to see
    the Chinese New Year.

    LILLIES

    The 30's had lots of plants

      and choking vines

    the art galleries accelerating

      at a constant rate

    the center boroughs of
    New York City will be a Dark Vacuum
              Void

    and I will die emptiness

      my brain oozed

    in the lonely fields

      of illiterate grass

    DRIVING ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD

    Driving on the left side of the road

      I hit a cartoon deer

    wearing sun glasses.

    Are the South African beaches

      really so beautiful?

    I hope so-

      The Earth is
        running

    out of sand

    VANISHING

    I am gone now

    electrically surfing

      the static waves

    of digital tattoos,

    the white doves overtook me

      that is when I knew
    I was a silent
      screaming

      ghost.

      Stephan Baley
      Copyright 2000