Before Beginnings and Endings

God, you were here before this,

before us, before me, before

light & dark, before they started

pavin' over parks, before the

larks and hummingbirds, before

time and other dirty words, before

sounds and drug dogs barkin loud

though tennements, before pictures,

before anything venemous,

before the first flex of technology

that led to jet engines, before games

& cowboys and indians, before enslavement

and brave men who overcame it and

put to shame the ones that made that

shit, before thugs, killers, & gangstas,

before slugs, brillo pads and bloody

coat hangers, before beginnings and

endings, torn clothes and mendings, &

before death, ascending & descending

thanks for reading.


The above was directly written as it appeared in my sketchbook, original line breaks formed from the size of the page. And here is a more literate version, punctuated as-close-to-the-way-I-would-speak-it-myself-as-I-can-get within the structure of the printed word, for those who suggested it.

God,

You were here before this,
before us,
before me,
before light & dark,
before they started pavin' over parks,
before the larks and hummingbirds,
before time and other dirty words,
before sounds and drug dogs barkin' loud through tenements,
before pictures,
before anything venomous,
before the first flex of technology that led to jet engines,
before games, & Cowboys and Indians,
before enslavement and brave men who overcame it
and put to shame the ones that made that shit,
before thugs, killers, & gangstas,
before slugs, brillo pads and bloody coat hangers,
before beginnings and endings,
torn clothes and mendings,
and before death, ascending and descending


Maybe that is clearer on the page. I still like the original version, because when I look at it, it's structure it has more of the-moment-I wrote-it-in in it for me, and I read that better.

love.