Eternal Ruminations<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Juked"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <LINK REL="stylesheet" HREF="/css/913articles.css" TYPE="text/css"> <LINK REL="shortcut icon" HREF="/favicon.ico" TYPE="image/x-icon"> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" SRC="/js/articles.js"></SCRIPT> </HEAD><BODY LEFTMARGIN="0" TOPMARGIN="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" RIGHTMARGIN="0" BOTTOMMARGIN="0" MARGINWIDTH="0" STYLE="border:0; text-align:center; background-color:#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> <TD WIDTH="745" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR>  <TD WIDTH="525" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left" BGCOLOR="#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="30" VALIGN="middle" ALIGN="left" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <A HREF="/index.html" CLASS="nav">home</A> | <A HREF="/info/" CLASS="nav">info</A> | <A HREF="/moment/" CLASS="nav">moment</A> | <A HREF="/archive/" CLASS="nav">archive</A> | <A HREF="/print/" CLASS="nav">print</A> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0" STYLE="padding-right:30px"> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="80" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" ALIGN="left" CLASS="header"> </TD> <TD WIDTH="*" ALIGN="right" CLASS="header" > 01.2008 </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="8" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" STYLE="padding-top:7px; padding-bottom:7px" CLASS="title"> Eternal Ruminations </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" CLASS="byline"> by <A HREF="/info/912bios/marcusw.asp" CLASS="authorlink">Marcus Wicker</A> </A> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="20" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" CLASS="text" STYLE="padding-bottom:30px"><DIV CLASS="textpoemholder"> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">This is what I want: to be forever</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">twenty-two driving down the busiest intersection</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">half a barrel deep, belting Stevie Wonder</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">at the top of my lungs, shouting down yard signs</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">and hermetically-sealed lawns.</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">I need to be almost immortal</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">like every dead/broke jazz musician</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">who ever hawked a horn for mouthfuls of freedom.</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">Or alive enough to feel the weight of gravity,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">ancestry, anything worth a second thought.</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">Late Saturday evening, raindrops sizzling across</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">the bullet shaped bay window, my pops and I sit</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">starring into the dark, crystal ball.</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">A late model record player leaves electrified music</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">drizzling from the cracks of our vaulted living room ceiling.</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">Across the hollow corridor, where my mother is glued</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">to the evening news, a woman talks about the public</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">school system and a village in Guam</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">where settlers compete to solve math problems</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">for the ultimate prize.</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">My dad looks up from his tilted glass of cognac, claims,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><I>that’ll never happen here; not for a million years, 'cause</I></P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><I>we’ve got hamburgers, baseball, apple pie, and Chevy.</I></P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">I remind him not to forget religion and ecommerce.</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">He agrees with this statement, nods like it’s standard.</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">It is at this instant that we begin to understand</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">the strange plane between us; Father and son,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">stuck at the root of this sticky slope wishing</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">to be nothing more than what we always were—</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">Father and son, content, aware, here.</P> </DIV> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="*" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD>  <TD WIDTH="182" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" BGCOLOR="#677358"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR>  <TD VALIGN="top" HEIGHT="420" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <IMG SRC="/images/913/article-logo.jpg" BORDER="0" USEMAP="#sideimage" WIDTH="182"> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD VALIGN="bottom" ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="*" CLASS="sidebottom" STYLE="padding-bottom:40px"> Thoughts? <A HREF="mailto:info@juked.com?subject=Feedback" CLASS="sidelink">Tell us</A>. </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left" BGCOLOR="#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="30" VALIGN="top" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="*" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> <TD WIDTH="*" <SPACER> </TD> </TR>  <TR> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> <TD WIDTH="745" HEIGHT="56"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="56" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="525" HEIGHT="56" VALIGN="middle" ALIGN="right" STYLE="background-color:#FFFFEE; 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