Talking My Walk
Each day I make my walk
Up and down Druid Hills
December decks the walk with grinning
Snowmen whose plastic carrot noses
Breathe no better than mine
As I clomp the asphalt and concrete
Imagining Immanuel Kant
How should I apply his C I
His Categorical Imperative how
Universalize my maxims this sun soaked
December day as I pass
Latinos with ladders and saws
Boys walking their dogs
Women jogging tits bouncing
The porcelain Santa may hold the answer
Beneath his red frock and white beard
He pees into a basin he smiles
As if his exposure itself is a joy
If only he could pee down the chimneys
Of those awaiting their gifts
Of factories spewing smut and slag
Would Kant today go about his walk
Rational and calm contemplating the Noumena
Would he masturbate daily as well
Space Time and Causality dissolving in his climax
Where do I walk if I want to feed the hungry
Stop the Saṃsāra as red with war
As Santa's frock
How should I walk my talk
How should you as the planet
Spins toward doom as avarice
Kills hope as money runs out
As oil drips away and we suffocate
In our own gases
If I carry a sign to city hall
If I vote for a civil rights hero
If I write swoon-worthy poetry
Or an essay published in Time
If I pee down a chimney if I
Make love to another human being
Will it make a difference
Will Kant's philosophy save us
I walk my walk
Up and down Druid Hills
Nod at neighbors who would abhor
My feelings and my world view
Pat the dog that will howl in the yard
All night alone and alienated as a billion
Humans are
Jack
Winter Solstice, 2011
