Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Hard words (v1.0)

Two hard words
say them again.
Force their meaning
out from the brain.

Feel their force
clack across teeth.
Cast their shadows
into the street.

Watch the face
change.  They smack
hard, those words
and never come back.

Echo which sounds
flat in the rain.
Two hard words
say them again.

Friday, December 24, 2010

to a football field (v1.0)

wounded sun
succumbs.
found friends;

unusual allies.
those chosen
bleed our cries,
winged clouds
haloed halogen

peel the sky
off your skin

crack cans.
let in the night.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Fisherman (v1.1)

Cast your bare line, fisherman
Hope that something happens.

Dream of days when fishermen
Chased and brawled with kraken.

Set a bare hook, fisherman
Only bait your breath.

No longer does a fisherman
Fight the waves to death.

Beat your bare-chest, fisherman
Seek prey, and pray on high

For days when simple fishermen
Defied the sea and sky.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Sausages!

Lovely little sausages-
Take you from a pack,
Up the heat a little bit,
See how you react.

Silly little sausages
Spit your sizzled fat
Make your fuss and hope nobody
Sees you're full of crap.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Clarity - draft

Killed by motorcycle;
driving home from
my house.  Your wife
slept on my
couch. Your name
still in my phone.
They wouldn't let
us see your face.

You married my
first love down
by the river. Her
open-back dress
showed Ygdrassil between
shoulder-blades.  I suggested
that tattoo. Couldn't
meet eyes that day.

My couch; refuge
when your teenage
chest emptied. Scotch, cigars,
war movies. Two
weeks, sometimes two
months.  Too wild
for young love.
Her too, I guess.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Untitled draft

Does water in the river’s run
Dream of oceans yet to come?

Or does it, in its eddied pools
Laugh at river’s flowing rules,
And think all other waters fools

To reach for foreign shores?

Effort without objective - draft

With buckets and pump, keep us afloat,
Yell at each other from ends of the boat-

The holes in our hulls are letting in ocean.
Work until passion fades from our motion.

This ship will stay buoyant if we both keep bailing.
A lost cause, they tell us, but I call it sailing.

Monday, August 30, 2010

A draft called "Edwin's Fort"

And does it fade, her heart of stone?
So warm long through night.
Her swelling dawn. Grey cliffs, titans,
Storm her streets at morning bell.

And did they know who crowned her?
Who gave her guardians of old,
That every glance, each burst of gunfire
Would put constraint upon the throat?

And when it fades, is it gone forever?
With tomorrow, flaws which come with age?
How can it when the morning shows
That each new line is more perfect still.

And let it fade, if fading is to see her
Restored with every breaking day.
Let it fall and die. Let it be buried,
And let it rise for any she would hold.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Concession fare

Green light. charged to burst
since Thursday last. Run thumb,
soft nail, down a flank made
rough by age, by adventure.

Hold tight with teeth, slip
between sheets which keep
fingerprints, DNA, promises.
Find flaws with lips and tongue.

Orange light, yearn for more
zones to explore. Teeth to tips,
stall at the threshold- Red light.
Get off, baby. I'm already touched.