Kevin Mazzola - Two Poems

Product Recall

I’ve been manufactured
And monopolized,
Refined and polished,
Sanded and then finished
Like the desk I sit in
Where I am commanded
To listen raptly
To the words
Of the most highly refined of all.

They have passed inspection
Year after year
And have excelled in their performance,
I listen,
I drift,
I dream.

I dream of a box
With no sides,
A room with no ceiling,
No walls to hold me in.

I dream of exploration
Without rules,
For there are wonders
Yet to be unearthed.

I dream of the gears
Of the assembly line
Cracking under the strain
Of overuse
And shattering,
Casting millions
Of incomplete products
Into the world beyond the factory walls
Where chaos will surely ensue.


Surely it will.



Midnight Rider

Midnight rider,
I can see
It in
Your wavering
Eyes
That it’s time
To leave
This ashen town.

I wish
For the
Chance to leave,
But the gray
Snow
That
Falls
Here
In a continuous
Flurry,
Like heavenly
Dandruff,
Keeps me
Tied Down,
Tied down
By the prospect
Of change,
By the prospect
That one day
This gray
Veil
Will turn
White
And there
Will be
Smiles
Instead
Of grimaces
When the neighbors
Walk outside.

I am the hopeful,
You are the change,
Neither of us
Is wrong,
But there’s
Always
The teetering
Question
On the tips
Of our tongues
Of what if our
Roles were
Reversed.

Could a reversal
Change all,
And would it
Bring hope
To not one,
But many.

We’ll never know,
Because I can see
The gray exhaust
From your tailpipe
Cut the road
With the hope
Of change.



Kevin Mazzola currently divides his time between northern New Jersey and central Pennsylvania, both of which have a unique impact on his writing.