Monday, October 28, 2013

Unbridled



night’s marbled hand
dropped a needle
from an old-growth pine

the constellations have hit it
rich, they have cast their ballots:
the purled wild rock lizard and high-volt dove

a bugling elk grieves his wild anthem, 
fading; one more blistering figment,

suitcase in its hand, a new
mud and fur satellite is lifted

taken to the stars, another light
velvet angel, transformed,

our ears bend skyward

Monday, October 21, 2013

Cain the Redeemer



Swaddled in golden down, the heroes
repose; the feathers of the caressed 
swan fill their shirts. A crippled beast 

cowers in the forest, wearing his eye 
like a purple moon—fluttering.

A carnivorous sedge carves the tongues 
of lovers. Stars erode the talk of ages
and hurled rock;
The birth of light disappears 
into a darkened city.

Spent breasts maintain a ceiling
of unsustainable evil—generations ill-prepared

to outfit the winged grandchild: the upturned crown, 
Gotham’s moon slipped in smoke.

Citizens, toss back the criminal’s goblet, 
embrace your demon emerging from the lake.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Blues God



What awesome battles they are
Growing in my eyes

The humans blowing forth
Like the sixth beast on jazz river

In these last days, the sheep-goats
Seek out the Babylon night

The winds of resurrected armies
Lift the teeth and desperate hosannas

Accident people in time signature
Moving to a tribulation rendezvous

Behold, my Gospel in war days
Guyasuta in snakeskin boots

Let there be dog bite, hands for losing,
Liquor goddammed, I say, third degree

Billy club on jaw, riotously
No real law, jack-boot seat

Mezz in the crosshairs, police only
Sparking in cataract symphony

Here traffic jam, bad rap birth pangs
Here antichrist catalog, bum deal heart disease

Here sirens, screams, cat-in-tree
Here, the blues and all brutality




"I guess the moral of the story is that if you want to
entertain an American audience good, just beat their
brains out and they'll always come back for more."
       Mezz Mezzrow, Really the Blues

posted to Poets United Poetry Pantry #184

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Universe at Pause



I woke up
in a book of darkness

spent a day in the parlor
eating money, thinking
about painting honey

in the parlor eating money
gave me translucence
a light bulb

twisted in the socket
and gave me translucence when
down came a blackbird
and snapped

the light bulb denied
the socket when the pie was opened
I began to sing

when down came a blackbird
and snapped off her nose at the end  
that's what you have
in a universe at pause

when the pie was opened I began
to sing, I slept counting,
that's what you have

in a universe at pause
before thinking
how to color the honey
to eat the money

to count sleep, before
waking in a ledger of darkness
when down came a blackbird singing

in the dead of night to a universe
at pause, only waiting
for this moment to arise



linked to Poetry Pantry 178