REFLECTIONS FROM THE LIVING ROOM FLOOR (A Lucius Poem)

The smell of incense burns
my nostrils like the sun\'s fire
white blinding my eyes and
the cat runs to the door
screaming Let me out, let me out!
while a Pink Floyd song drones alone
in the backdrop of blank space
that is home to this broken rebel,
resigned, resigned to my fate
when before I was so sure,
once upon a time had the world
tucked away in the back pocket
of a pair of Levi\'s that mom
had patched up when the knees
ripped out from falling offf
the small purple bike after dad
had taken off the training wheels,
yet another step in distance,
in growing up and still the cat
screams Let me out, let me out!
but it is winter and the sunlight
comes down slow in frozen shafts
that look warm but it is only an
illusion like I can change the world
better to create my own where I
rule supreme and life is how it
should be like the Brady Bunch or
the Partridge Family, all the
bastard spawn of Patty Duke and
Dobie Gillis (related to Donna Reed
and the Beaver) and in my youth I fed hungrily
on the life in the box, drawn in,
years of subtle seduction, deception,
television cliche perfection, swallowing
me whole, open wide the window yell at
the world, the airwaves, Liar, liar!
reality mind warped by pop culture images
and outside will never be as perfect as
it should be and it\'s still
Happy Days and Wonder Years and
now I\'m almost thirtysomething
and I run to the door
screaming Let me out, let me out!

January 5, 1993