Plato's Cave

Of course the rooms are filled with shadows
While laser lights and computer programs prove
More cost effective than fire, yet the cardboard
Cut-outs and the curtains have remained the same.
As well as those old lies that trees are real,
That the way out really goes somewhere,
That math leads more than circles,
And that the Wizard himself is behind the curtains
Keeping the whole domino world from collapsing.
Yet only a few poets and down and outers dare climb
The arduous way out as most prefer
To sit and argue about living conditions
And have learned to love the rope
Or some other back door reality.

Clinton Van Inman claims to be one of the few remaining Beat Poets who still bang the drum slowly now for the Cause. Recent publications include Internet magazines: Poetry, BlackCatPoems, The Inclement, The Tower Journal, and the Beatnik, while recent magazines include Down in the Dirt, Hudson View, and Indiana University Spirits to name a few. Currently, he is trying to gather most of his poetry together to publish in a book I hope called, ÒOne Last Beat.Ó

Clinton was born in England in 1945, graduated from San Diego State University in 1977. He is a high school teacher in Tampa Bay, and lives in Sun City Center, Florida with his wife, Elba.

Find more by Clinton Van Inman in the Author Index.

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