Does It Matter by Lee Kaloidis

That on this Friday morning to the soundtrack of the garbage truck, my nosy neighbor’s cheesy greeting and the impossible logic of dharma raveling and unraveling through my head I try to pull a rotting sparrow from the vegetable garden’s net, its red skull smaller than a cherry tomato, a feathery knot so frenzied it cannot be picked without cutting through the plastic. And does it matter that the cotton garden gloves the summer has baked in clay protect my hands from whatever mythic germs dead birds convey but are too stiff to let me handle this with any grace, that consciously or not I’m aware of a human scale we each project for guidance to weigh the ratio of randomness to intent, believing where we put our finger on that scale will really tip anything this way or that. Like whether or not to dig a grave, just where and how deep a grave should go, which words are best for occasions we cannot know.

Lee Kaloidis is a visual artist with a history in poetry and improvisational music. He currently lives just outside of NYC with his wife and animals. More info can be found on his website @ www.leekaloidis.com