floating and leaving no trace
candles flicker for obvious reasons
birthdays, farewells, power outs,
supplication to saints
checking that canary you
carried down into the coal mine
homemade bikini waxing
sealing someone’s fate with a signet
pressed into a blood red blob
liberace
but mostly the presence of ghosts
my hammer will not ring
no anvil to fall on
no metal to forge
no sword to fashion
for any hero’s hand
the crucible does not
overflow with molten metal
no sparks
no ashes
so soot covered skin
or sweat covered brow
no bronze to cast
or chase
no shapes to shape
it is said
that when all you have is a hammer
everything looks like a nail
but sometimes
even the nails are absent
and the hammer
is a cold stillborn thing
in your hand
buzzing fig beetle
emerald morning jewel
stupid dive bomber
i apologize to you, ladies
my tongue may as well
been chewed to pieces
or my larynx smashed
for all the good
five decades of conversational
experience did any of us
you asked for help
you had an address
i had gps
and even though i showed you the map
and asked you to follow me
you sought the advice
of another
and did not accompany
to your destination
[albeit a shady one
a temporary looking sweatshop
filled with sewing machines
on long folding tables
–welcome to america, i thought as i passed
by it’s cracked open door alone]
maybe the language wall
was unscalable
or i was too foreign
or you thought i was a white slaver
or some other kind of miscreant
or just bad at conversation
clotho, lachesis, atropos–
i wonder about you still
do you wonder about me
and if you had followed me
would i have had a windowless white van
and chloroform waiting
at the ready
i long to open you
the way the letter opener
desires to slip between
the thin layers of the envelope
to free the message within
your letters are breaths
whispered, imprints on
time both more substantial
than flame susceptible pages
but as pale as dissolving gossamer
skull full of smoke
and rendered fat
these images
are murky
shadows
cast
by
we collected teeth along the shore
hey la, hey la, hey la
a necklace shiny and bright made we
hey la, hey la, hey la
a night and forever its length you wore
hey la, hey la, hey la
as i spoke with the voice of the sea
hey la, hey la, hey la
the moon shines pale upon your breast
hey la, hey la, hey la
now for eternity we are dressed
hey la, hey la, hey la
i found your blood
in a red-stained envelope
waiting in my mailbox
throbbing like an organ
the thickened state of it
surprised me though
i thought it would be more akin
to ice water than a
hot, swirling pudding of
reds and browns
easy enough to take a pen
and write
–but carefully
so as not to puncture–
[return to sender]
and lift the heart-red flag
to alert the postman
i didn’t have a letter opener, you see
and i was out of stationery and
razor blades
for a proper reply
a vomitus of words erupted
from your throat
got caught in your teeth
stained your shirt
so many words
at once you couldn’t hear
what i was trying
to say
i wiped away
the recriminations
the explanations
the assassinations
and found you
had no ears
they had grown over
with a thick skin
unused for so long
cat meditating
on the cushion behind me–
sleepy, purring stone
Words and Feathers 