Wednesday, May 11, 2005
put it out there
dreams mainly of men
piled on men but also
of a frightened look from a girl
in a wig who jerks mightily
and phrases clipped,
countless lays beside me,
restless in a double bed,
cried and sometimes even have shaken
me from sleep and into waking night
where eyes hurt and
bottles break and televisions speak
.
dreams mainly of men
piled on men but also
of a frightened look from a girl
in a wig who jerks mightily
and phrases clipped,
countless lays beside me,
restless in a double bed,
cried and sometimes even have shaken
me from sleep and into waking night
where eyes hurt and
bottles break and televisions speak
.
speak up
comb the alleys for frothy
young maidens who, their hair in curls
and their eyes gazing upwards,
as boxers before they fall,
will light you on fire
in the back of the liquor store--
douse you with all manner of hooch,
take one cigarette, and flick
it gently through the air.
comb the alleys for frothy
young maidens who, their hair in curls
and their eyes gazing upwards,
as boxers before they fall,
will light you on fire
in the back of the liquor store--
douse you with all manner of hooch,
take one cigarette, and flick
it gently through the air.
Monday, May 02, 2005
the narrow gate
"The tempter approached him and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.'"
--Matthew 4:3
"You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter"
--T.S. Eliot
"All that's beautiful drifts away
Like the waters."
--W.B. Yeats
give me the sweet,
the aspiring lady
who will strip before a fractured mirror
and weep as her hair
brushes off the side, ripples
over the cracked silver and glass,
who will cry out as her chest rises in dry cold,
die a tiny gasp of hungry breath
as she holds her ribs, reaches for her breast.
give me a girl who will kiss
as naked and blind as a toothless young
bear with her mother under early sun.
give me this girl, but not until
i have fasted, not until
the fields are empty of fruit; not until
i have met and accused and aroused
the belligerent, the saddened, the depraved,
and burned the very last of the slumlords;
not until i have shouldered degenerates
and befriend the least clean,
until my droplets have collected on
and vanished from from the grain,
until i have rained back down
onto scorched fields
until the mud has run off the hard rock
and servants pluck me from the golden grasses.
give me this girl
and i promise i will fall as rain
to the depths of the fields. i will die,
and every rock will wash away.
"The tempter approached him and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.'"
--Matthew 4:3
"You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter"
--T.S. Eliot
"All that's beautiful drifts away
Like the waters."
--W.B. Yeats
give me the sweet,
the aspiring lady
who will strip before a fractured mirror
and weep as her hair
brushes off the side, ripples
over the cracked silver and glass,
who will cry out as her chest rises in dry cold,
die a tiny gasp of hungry breath
as she holds her ribs, reaches for her breast.
give me a girl who will kiss
as naked and blind as a toothless young
bear with her mother under early sun.
give me this girl, but not until
i have fasted, not until
the fields are empty of fruit; not until
i have met and accused and aroused
the belligerent, the saddened, the depraved,
and burned the very last of the slumlords;
not until i have shouldered degenerates
and befriend the least clean,
until my droplets have collected on
and vanished from from the grain,
until i have rained back down
onto scorched fields
until the mud has run off the hard rock
and servants pluck me from the golden grasses.
give me this girl
and i promise i will fall as rain
to the depths of the fields. i will die,
and every rock will wash away.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
findings
"i was gonna get right back"
-s. carter
the sheerly malformed
and unhappy gentleman,
who papers his letters under
surveillance, cringes.
his wife, a long fattened
cook, squares another plate
and calls the children to eat.
the man is man as many are,
and so he disappoints,
is selfish, unthinking, cruel.
he forgets along with all his children,
the simple rule of marriage,
wiry war and plaited pants.
he'll not know the way back in.
"i was gonna get right back"
-s. carter
the sheerly malformed
and unhappy gentleman,
who papers his letters under
surveillance, cringes.
his wife, a long fattened
cook, squares another plate
and calls the children to eat.
the man is man as many are,
and so he disappoints,
is selfish, unthinking, cruel.
he forgets along with all his children,
the simple rule of marriage,
wiry war and plaited pants.
he'll not know the way back in.
tiny death
the tiniest of death sits along
the benches in the hall,
waits for the bell to sound,
waits for you to rise.
when will you have died enough
that wind will crawl on buried paws,
carry you, lithe and willing
toward the branched trees?
when you will have aged enough,
will you light fire,
hear the crack and slither,
and find the tiny death?
for the old, tiny death does not lurk far;
he sings a song of hardest water.
when you are dead enough,
the wind will blow, final from your lips.
the tiniest of death sits along
the benches in the hall,
waits for the bell to sound,
waits for you to rise.
when will you have died enough
that wind will crawl on buried paws,
carry you, lithe and willing
toward the branched trees?
when you will have aged enough,
will you light fire,
hear the crack and slither,
and find the tiny death?
for the old, tiny death does not lurk far;
he sings a song of hardest water.
when you are dead enough,
the wind will blow, final from your lips.
