Tunnel Vision
By Paz Griot
Ain't no telling what we'll do
when our subway comes through
and our rhythm sparks the wires
with the pulse of our power.
Do you feel the velocity
of our vivacity?
Did you ever dream
we would witness the light
at the end
of our tunnel vision?
I wanna devour all your images.
I wanna leave my haiku on your tender areas.
I wanna sleep in the words you speak.
I wanna laugh at your shadow.
I wanna drop seeds and rhymes for you.
I wanna tattoo your eyes.
I wanna break and enter.
I wanna come out of hiding
and into your realm.
I wanna shake my religion
and scratch through the ceiling.
I wanna embrace these colors
and enhance this feeling.
I wanna love ambiguity
cuz it's more than drugs you're dealing.
I've felt the darkness
and the weight of this fallen wall.
I've felt my body bleed
beneath the cars on the street
and now I'm pushing back
against engines and glass.
Last night you looked like chickenshit
but I was hung over.
This ain't no AA meeting
and I don't need to stay sober.
Take me through the tunnels.
Don't let go
of these trembling hands
or these grimacing eyes
that mourn
and see the world
through tunnel vision.
I might fall through the tracks
and crush
under the rushing bodies.
Catch me when I crash
and don't overreact
when I stop making sense,
when I curse the ground I'm crawling on,
when I spit at rising demons,
when I break out in scriptures.
Sing your melodies
and build a sanctuary
outside the traffic
for my wounds to expose
and my voice to heal.
My tunnel vision
is about to derail.
*
Paz Griot is a spoken word poet, visual artist, actor, playwright, and performer originally from New York City. He now lives in Istanbul. He has written and published several poems, performed in countless plays and open mic events, written seven plays and exhibited his paintings, collages, and sculptures in six gallery shows in New York. He is currently writing his eighth play, and is launching a Zen meditation group.