“Inverse of Matter,” 5/15 from 21st Century Retablo. 11.7″ x 16,” mixed-media on archival paper, 2005-06. Permanent collection, USC Fisher Museum of Art.

POEM: the inverse of matter

witness the artifacts of artificial memory     man-made/

cavities, crevices, shatter across the concrete wall/
I search for signs of the abstract truth/
the shock of negative power     to take away,/
leave a void     (you know how it is)     uncontrollably,/

we are attracted to the darkness     black holes absorb light/
matter dissolves     it happens so fast     like snow falling on a surface,/
bullets wound, leave countless craters, constellation negatives/
spent casings spread beneath weave a heavy, unstable blanket/

comets made of lead leave in their wake/
nothing     what happens when we scratch away/
memory     take what was     by the principle of decay/
we are left     the inverse of matter