I wrote a poem once airing and burying secrets and shame. A poet engaged with me about his job in waste management. He had some good points. I wrote a poem once about a tragedy and loss of life. Later the death toll went up and my poem got better. Not because of the…
Stairway to Nowhere
I live in a house – with a stairway to nowhere – But I have my heaven – When I’m in your arms – Dusky moonlight floods her light – As we lay & hold each other tight I live in a house – with a stairway to nowhere – But I have my heaven…
A Day To Day Forgetting
(the 90’s in bedsits & share-houses) they stayed, if they could, impassive, immediate, lowered themselves, sat-squat on the word’s hearth, drip sat on its flame-lick, wet fire, tank straddled, finger-loosened bungs; unlocked at the front, they’d come back unsure of this at first, and the second time, with American verse, the confessional females, I’d perform…
blood
say nothing. the sheets are damp. the doorknob turns. it’s going to hurt. it hurts but keep going. flushed w heat w shame of it. failure to communicate. the heart beats in its chest. it isn’t a trick, omg it’s so easy. you can do it in yr sleep. you can do it when yr…
from SANDY ROOMS #4
6 morning like nothing had happened; bench about a foot wide, three railings and seven or more municipal coats of various enamel paints covering seventy years of dawns, hissing ocean, salt and soap, sand, ‘sects, the bus so it links with the first train for one person who may feel the whole city conspires with,…
Sun-Spun
i. It bloats into a new hour and light’s all over me like anxiety. Flies fatten, nerves burst and as petals shed I molt creatures of keen sheets. Unhinge, seize abstractions from their skin! Undone, squint the big stars dim. ii. A quarter to ten so exquisitely tends this multifoliate host, surviving each of these…
The Past
A yellow moon glowers, Over my homely mansion. A werewolf stalks on the pavement level. Here in the trees are the huge boughs, Of the neighborhood. We dwell, in the night-time, Above the ground, In a complex of closed apartments, Made of wood. The sickening dim light of the streets, Shines up weakly at the…
Living
I was reared in the Church of Don’t-Worry-About-It, Under Saint Nobody. Nobody has stayed by my side all my life. He never criticizes, or he doesn’t answer back. Nobody walks with me, So I walk with nobody. He’s fine. I went with him to the Wailing Wall, Where I began to bang my head. My…
Knowledge
Why should I go into the fields, wander slow… The grass doesn’t want me there! I have no reason, to stay in the house, Drinking tea and staring at the pattern On the wallpaper. Perhaps I should run, go somewhere, Where to? There is nothing of any significance farther away, Except mountains, snow, a river…
Christening
If I was last, I would know, How swiftly the current goes. There it falls, a chalice of pewter, Down it falls, and splash! In the flow, Of dirty city water. An entire life fell from my hands, Its freedom, its happiness and its fulfilment. For a forefather’s burden, I let go, Joined the far…
Run Home of Five Roads
i. Body of busy hills, I am an element on foot. When the distant cars hymned like bees in smooth unison, I fed them through a needle & pierced a hole into nervy noon; a blinking arrow through terse, blue linen, I seized a weave & knotted it at the nimbus umbilicus. ii. A…
Time Flies
Why put it off till later when you can do it now? Time is of the essence! Don’t wait, time flies, With wings of a hawk. First here, then years away, You’ll be unable to catch it if it goes, High in the sky, there it is – time. Reach for it if you want…