let us go then
you and i while
this little light
fails in caution tape stipes
of yellow against green
yellowing grass
everything rolls up
in the egg roll
layer by layer
by layer
like a handroll
with krab, avocado
and mermaid meat
easy on the shoyu
the dog pants
the dogs pant
the dog’s pants
the table etherized patient
has 100,000 miles
of arteries and veins
stretched tightly
when plucked
the vibration is invisible to
the human eye
the sound so high
it cannot be heard
except by resonance
in the blood
Tag: artist
cheering you up, part two (20190726)
run a needle through
grains of sand like beads
sand from my eyes
no sunny beach
the needle exits every
where there is an eyelash
this is sleep
when you die
depending on the mortuary
or the mortician i suppose
they will plug your throat
and sew your mouth closed
to keep the last notes of your
last song
from scaring the folks staring
at your mummified remains
your eyes will be velcroed shut
not exactly velcro
instead they’ll use an eye cap
a contact lens covered in spikes
to keep your eyelids in place
run me through a meat grinder
and feed me to the shelter dogs
someone at least
will not go hungry for one single meal
there is no part one
a feather the weight of the sun–20190718
i push into you
pass through you like
that episode of star trek
–which one?–
where a transporter accident
causes the crew to phase into
a parallel dimension
but still they manage to
keep their feet on the
floor of the ship
–which one?–
how do ghosts do it?
pass through walls
yet move on a slightly curved path
that ties them to the earth
like regret or obsession
is just another word for gravity
like destiny is another word for density
the stuffed birds in the taxidermist’s window
forever open their beaks
forever expand their throats in song
for never fly again
without mediation, wolf takes matters into his own hands–20191201
only his head
is big enough
to fit inside
–you have a problem, wolf says
he takes a long drag
the cigarette coal glows and dies
like a highway patrol car’s lights
–you think time only moves
in one direction
–you’re hung up on a metaphor
time is a river, you think
once you pass over a spot
it’s gone forever
i push my back against
the dry cave wall
wolf followed me here through the rain
worst storm in fifty years
now his coat is ragged and sopping
while i have a small fire
a bundle of sticks
i beat him to the cave
by all rights
i get dibs on shelter
he gets the storm
–it’s all good
he spits the butt into my tiny flames
–i’ll be back ten minutes ago
signs and portents of the new year, 2019 written on the last day of 2018
a dead man
appears to me in a dream
shuffling from side to side
grinning sheepishly
he apologizes
for dying
and leaving things
undone
a blue bag of dog shit tied
to the leash
swings in and out
of a cone of light
like a censer
during mass
beads of sap
from the latest tree trimming
glisten like globes of glass
on the sidewalk
a broken mirror
shaped like a child’s drawing
of a house
turned such that i
cannot see my reflection
only the silver sheen
of light
two owls in the night
one invisible, screeching
a second, caught in the beam
of my flashlight
frozen like a ghost projected
against the night sky
silent
postcardia (20181221)
take my heart
find it weightless
i have emptied it
day by day
scraping away
the inside lining
with bloody fingernails
pounding flat the walls
with bruised fists
burnishing the
paper-thin membrane
with my palms
until my bones
have shown through
the skin
weigh my heart on your scale
it is empty and without weight
your feather will drag
the balance down
to strike the floor
resounding like a gong
nothing in my heart
your hand may pass through it
as if through mist or
a rainbow’s shadow
o dog-headed god
watch as my heart rises
it will ascend
watch it ascend
let it ascend
restoration hardware (20181124)
let the lies
be truths
the ink blood
skin words
write yourself
write your grievances
on sheets
where the darkness
laid its head
and found
momentary peace
a single chord
works in all keys
your fingering’s right
but the string
still buzzes
frets are just headstones
hiding bones
let them find
momentary peace
i have momentarily
made peace
with weakness
cravenness a close ally
shrugging my shoulders
your fourth dead body (20180521)
your fourth dead body
lies in state on sunday
on pillars before a home
a house on a busy main street
still sleepy on sunday afternoon
not a funeral home
just a house and no crowd of mourners
but three modestly
well-dressed people
gathered behind the coffin
it’s a few blocks
from that taco shop you want to try
post obedience
involuntary body viewing
the second time
you have been surprised
by a corpse
the grass is green
cut short at the house
clouds part by the hand of god
like god is karate chopping the sky
the opening reveals a sky bluer
than the ache that
lives in your bones
creates a vacuum
the clouds refuse to rush back in
instead the heavens suck the air
out of your lungs
you are too far away to see details
of the face
but the sun reflects
off a brown forehead
you can smell pomade
thick massaged into black
permanently styled hair
what you took for beads of sweat
is mortician’s wax
pilling on skin
that will not ever sweat
you have stopped breathing
your breath has fled
like a soul on the lam
a police car pulls up to the curb
maybe to ask
why they have a body on their lawn
why the casket is open
why the corpse is sweating
why can you smell it
why are cops who have gathered
around the corner
laughing with each other
like one just told a joke
traffic lets you move
and you breathe
and the body in the casket
does not
friendly game of cards 20180505
me and wolf
flop down on the ground
because he refuses to sit
at a proper table
i deal cards
some variation
of five card poker
don’t know what the name is
it’s the wolf’s game
after all
i keep my eyes on him
while i reach for the pretzels
–wouldn’t want to lose a hand
he says, wheezing at his own joke
i bet a finger
he spits a bloody tooth
into the pot
i win
but the hell will i to do
with this tooth
he deals
and i realize that his paws
are delicate human hands
porcelain white
china doll small
i find my self staring
he lunges
swallows my finger
–best attend to your cards
he says
NaPoWriMo Day 25
make a mess of it all
dissect living flesh without anasthetic
sow seeds to pluck later
sin’s littler flowers, rose-scented petals
so many, many thorns
feel the bones around the eyes
zygomaticocfacial foramen
posterior lacrimal crest
exotic birds waiting to sprout feathers
or fossilize like the ancient dinosaurs
they are
look at the t. rex skeleton
who says
hens don’t have teeth
