Gutter

As fast as fingers learn
To spread the skin

Temptation finds an entrance
You learned the language
That turns my head
Is not earnest or eloquent.
But a culvert full

       of carnal, hoarse, hungry words

Spoken under streetlights.

path well worn

Tried and truthful witness
To the burden I have lifted

This midnight bonfire
Conceals the fine lines of retreat
In shadows blue with late June heat

The flames, desire waning
To embers glowing and fading
I beseech, and begin to release
Path well worn and journey complete

April Weather Advisory

The generals are predicting an invasion;
A million troops of
Kamikaze crystalline warriors
To sacrifice their
No-two-ever-alike selves
To the noble cause of
Headlights and highways.

Housekeeping to Room One

Here, entombed in sterile walls,
Death is hidden under coarse sheets.
Bodies like white elephants.

Death, I thought, was dressed in black suits
In earth-tone parlors,
Stands by mahogany boxes lined with pale blue silk.

Here he was,
Hidden under white sheets
Wearing wool socks, blue sweatpants, one shoe.

Forgiveness

A harmony lingers
Where there is
Dissonance and wild syncopation
Like some awful rendition
Of a Stravinsky overture
Revolutionary pattern
An Evolution.
Maybe this is what
Mother Earth felt
When life first began
A little bewildered
A little alone
And a little more ready
To understand.

bloodword

Words drowned,
Dried
On the surface of my tongue.
You once mentioned
The copper-flavored kisses
Bestowed,
Pale light.
Not blood or bile,
No,
It was these words
Dissolving, contorted
Revolving, distorted.
The lines of your face
Jaded.

Tree

In this place, populated with echoes
Not much older than forty years,
The memory of these trees is not long.
Maple and ash are tender and expectant
Awaiting the ushering in of seasons
Deep beneath the snow and sleeping grass
They almost hear 

Genetic rememberings

Sit-upon-lap stories
Of lichens and croci
Soft, dampened chords through barren branch
Resonating tribal humming, low and distant.
We are learning to listen.
We are learning patience
Together, we young things.