Improv 48 (“Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg” Hugo)

“’Hatred of The Various Grays’”

Gray and Beige,
Beige and Gray,
Bare naked and new cubicles
Hallways of prisons and schools
These are not tints,
These are somber neutrals
Meant as a primer for post-mistakes
They are not calm and cool paint swatches
That is for the Monet’s Lilies and Aqua Breezes
They are not stimulating or motivating
Like Lantanas or Pumpkin Toast
If you’re going to go flat and gray,
or bland and beige
adding a smudge of hue will level it up
to a chromatic gray, that expresses
close to something rather than nothing. 

Improv 47 (“Clear Night” C. Wright)

“’Bird Hush and Bird Song’”

Green emerald glazed hands
welded for giving and getting
displayed on the trunk of the palm
holds seedling snacks for those singing
twitchy necked definitions of freedom.

He hung the slip-casted weapons to
snooze the crude cheeping at dawn and
gun-down that provoking raucous.

Now, only the rooster crows, but
his internal clock is armed for
Eastern Standard Time.

Improv 46 (“The Skokie Theater” Hirsch)

“Chicago is Too Cold for Change?”

I’ve pranced incessantly back and forth with the same faunae of the Eastern South for a decade and a half. A revolution is the light at the end of the tunnel. They could never stomach such a shift in communal scenery. Formerly, my capability to expand prospects was arrested by cowardly con-artists, those inhibited cubs who will soon be dominated by their youngers stripped of their women and banished from the Pridelands. Chicago holds a lot of cold change for skilled beggers, but can I be choosey and settle for the comfort of the dry desert dirt?

Improv 45 (“Explaining an Affinity for Bats” Stallings)

“MegaBat and Pueo (the Barn Owl and the Fruit Bat)”

A tail-less meerkat, cocooned in his own embrace
Upside down, patiently looming for his wise spotted-breast
side-kick to return with the nightbeat and some avocado.
“They say you need to compromise the mango trees”
She confessed.
“I will not be vanquished by puny buzzballs”
He persisted.
She began to pluck away chromatic plume after plume
from her regal form.
He frantically flapped and produced mousey ‘Eeks!’ to
obstruct her horrid habit.
She darted towards the hive, he resumed to his cocoon
in triumph. She never sonically announced her plot
and gorged away his stunned expression. 

Improv 44 (“Daddy” Plath)

“Daddy’s Achoo”

A virgin to the pollen of Georgia
called to tell me I had an Easter basket in route
to check the front door to see if it had arrived
my first day of Spring Break
best surprise to see your Daddy deliver candy
from across the country and then some Pacific away
rollercoaster parks are great for memories
unless you count Daddy sneeze eleven times
in a row in the rental car in the parking lot
we left early
My undergraduate senior exhibition is planned to
display in April.
A basket of dust masks and organic antihistamines
will make for a savoring souvenir.

Improv 43 (“The Artist as Lefthander” Dunn)

“’When America Gives Back Its Images’”

McDonalds is Mayhem. Pedestrian “lovin’ it” and
Monopolized shopping depots.
America should give it back.
Return all the conforming clichés and conventional
Conveniences. When was the last time someone
Physically labored for their conquests? Experienced notions of
Reward other than virtually?
America should give back jobs.
Return parents to be heeded and respected as role models,
Not names and fixed faces that the chances of holding
Conversation with are slim to none like their bodies and morals.
When did the schools become a center for judgment and abuse?
Hasn’t that always been the occupation of the church?
America should give it back to individuals’ beliefs. 

Improv 42 (“To Market” Nelson)

“The Stroll of Streams”

All of us must be removed the icy, pale peoples’ property.
We are not dark enough to stay and work and live.
They say our land is ‘sovereign’ and sacred. That it
Holds so many resources we will never understand how to
Utilize properly. They are unknowing Agidoda says and
Edoda will strike back against their misuse of our home.
I pray the river will flood and storms will
Destroy in progress construction.
I pray the birds and wildcats will unite and attack
Bringing the eyes of these men’s young to their own young to
Feast and use their hair to build shelters and nests.
I prayed first for us to share our properties, supplies, and
Above all, knowledge. Now I pray nothing but
Fatal sickness and flaring fires.