Pick and Choose Response #1: Jeffery McDaniel Endarkenment
A play off McDaniel’s “Heavy Breather Zoo” (10):
Hippie Zoo
By Christina Arganda

Whatever happened to the hippie?
capitalist consumerism- Orange County, yuppy greed,
apathy, glass fences, substance control laws-
has rendered her free spirit obsolete. Who
will listen to her cause now? She is the floppy disk
of rebels. She tried leading a protest march
through Whittier College campus,
but only four people joined in,
which was a damn near heart breaking blow.

Should we go to Venice Beach or Berkley-
gather up the last few still out there, smoking
joints and painting banners in the wild,
before they go extinct, place them
in a special zoo, in eco-friendly cage systems, complete
with 2nd or 3rd hand furnishings- glass pipes, rally
signs, hemp blankets, Doors records and music
from “Hair,”- to recreate what their used to?

Perhaps a plaque that reads: Here
sits the hippie. She used to carry signs down
Pennsylvania Avenue and though flip-flops at
corrupt politicians and “The Man.”She lived for that
first rush of the crowd, the ground shaking cheer
that gave Nixon and congress headaches and her chills.




Kiss the mug and smile like you mean it
Ghazal By Christina Arganda

If I could tell you all the shadow secrets that I am
I promise, you still would never know.

BBQ Buddha drinks and
Never placid, candy splintered shattered soul.

Last year I spent my whole spring break
Never less than eyelash deep in snow.

There are seven serpents that make the color of my eyes
They cry but will never again see the light.

Petal wet and trembling flesh
Bare breath in red that never reaches truth.

I have seven self given injuries all the blood has gone,
Battle scar piercing I can never live without.

For the truth is, I am the end of star light
A neverland dream delusion Donut dancer.




Paint your path
Quatrain By Christina Arganda

I dwell within the realm of pure obscurity.
I search for truth and maybe magic but find no purity.

My mind is a Jackson Pollak wet dream,
Where only questions drip as splatters darkly gleam.



My Tiny is a daisy, but mighty is her rowr
Pantom by Christina Arganda

Aqua skies melt derision and deference in her wide wet eyes
She is framed by canary diamond silk streaks and sheets
A hollow cloud withers in her trembling hands and dies
All of this is hidden by Maybell masks for everyone she meets.

She is framed by canary diamond silk streaks and sheets
As he chips away the last shreds of innocence of eighteen
All of this is hidden by Maybell masks for everyone she meets
The tenderness he seems to give is really only mean.

As he chips away the last shreds of innocence of eighteen
She turns to face the darkness and declare battle deep within
The tenderness he seems to give is really only mean
The time has come to run away from eighteen years of sin.

She turns to face the darkness and declare battle deep within
The past no longer matters as she must cut a whole new path
The time has come to run away from eighteen years of sin
To embrace the truth of her now the word will know her wrath.

The past no longer matters as she must cut a whole new path
A hollow cloud withers in her trembling hands and dies
To embrace the truth of her now the word will know her wrath
Aqua skies melt derision and deference in her wide wet eyes.