Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter, PhD, MA, teaches at a public university in North America and consults/coaches at Sollars & Associates and independently.  Bennett-Carpenter is the author of Death in Documentaries (Brill, 2018) and Explaining Jesus (Lexington / Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).  He co-edits Cruel Garters, a contemporary poetry publication.  

Away and Off

Days tick.  Away and off.  If you count them.  Our days are, after
all, numbered.  One way or another.  Choose your system or it
chooses you.  It is said in some places that one must be funny
or die.  Funny places.  This isn’t one of them.  Are you laughing?
See, that’s what I mean.  Hey, this is no laughing matter.  Matter
doesn't laugh unless something’s funny.  Then it’s a laughing matter.
Matters can move from laughing to non-laughing or non-laughing
to laughing in a matter of seconds.  Seconds matter.  Enter Into
The Liminal Of The Laughing And Non-Laughing.  I saw that on
a T-Shirt.  T-Shirts contain all you need to know except for
all that’s not there.  There are of course those things that take
about 25 years to learn.  There’s Just So Much So Get Used To.  
Use in your own way.  [Intermission.  Organ music.  Security will
tour you around the abandoned cathedral.  Lights will be projected.
When lights start to fade, I will be your lighter.  Be your lighter.]
Trinity’s crying.  Song titles tell you everything you need to know.
Take their word for it.  Believe in belief, selectively.  But there’s 
supposedly another way, and thus shall I speak to thee Of Method.
Generalized.  The Jesuits once taught it and then forgot about it.
The Transcendentalists died.  People think it through in every 
waking moment.  Just the fact that.  Just the fact.  Just.  The fact.

The Mill

The mill uses everything.  It’s down by the river.  It’s been quaint 
for awhile now.  But they’re rehabilitating the place.  You’ll hardly
recognize it when they’re done.  It’s looking amazing.  Like right 
out of a space age movie.  Things get so bright in the  sunshine.  
We all have to take a break from it.  Sometimes escape means 
survival.  Isn’t there an island prison off the coast?  We’re 
gaining on things.  Ask me what matters and I’ll tell you.  It’s a 
tough time of year.  The lot is slop.  Some things are better left 
forgotten.  But do recall your values.  Attend to your priorities.  
There’s always room for 1, 2, 3.  As a general rule start with 1. 
That’s what generals do and they should know.  Specialists do 
the same thing.  Private first classes, sergeants, chiefs and 
masters, majors, it's the same for all.  We have our marching 
orders.  One foot in front of the other helps.  Keep moving.  
Pause for R&R, then get moving again.  2 loops done & 1 to go.