Is she in the world?

How far away is she?

36,000 Days

36,000 Days

Act now, on a quick wish and

brighten up the mourners

while you live.

We lived quick like salt,

a quick dissolve and seep into

something else.

No one could bottle it up.

As the days walked by,

our hands behind our backs rose

and opened,

agreeing, at last

that there's nothing

they can keep.

And it rained all day.

Sometimes.

We have to act anyway. When

the crying stops,

they'll sit soft

for a while

until something else grips them.

Berlin, a Town of Pockets

Berlin, a Town of Pockets

Sky, your sun,

        my mind.

My mind, a screen,

            Berlin.

Berlin, a song, my chest.

My chest, all day today,

                    for death.

My death, a blues

          for one.

My blues, a floating gun.

The gun, the ghost, the town.

                  The town, a sun,

                        a guest.

"S" For Stinkum

“S” For Stinkum

All done up like a thumper, gone out for

late supper after all the watchers went to bed.

No sleep for the last one up thinking.

Bring him along. See what he chooses to eat

in the face of the people.

See what he laughs at. See how he's

neither bored nor boring, but

the rest is

           as humdrum

           as an empty planet.

See, we knew who to choose. We knew

he'd be tired but stuck awake thinking.

We knew the last match

was almost high flaming.

Kept him here

for his brain beats

and steady hands. See us

all around, all

up and down jumping,

all eyeless smiles,

                    everyone's last hired gun.

What We Can't Talk About

I stammer

every single time they ask, so

now I just stay home and stare,

rain falls and keeps

falling, small rhythms building until

the sudden stop, we confuse sunlight

with progress, don't seem to know

how it's circles upon

globs, no end, there is a sad

freedom in living without a harbor,

we all feel it, there is so much

to feel frightened about,

but most of all,

you've got to have something

to say about whatever it is

that you're doing,

and maybe we

don't

Deep Space Will Change Your Eyesight

We can't let you off the hook again.
Your troubled life.
How star moonlights.
Like a mystery disease.
By the time they find it.
See, your good luck cannot continue.
It will mature.  And then

Don't fend off, just take it.
If you can understand the ocean.
The smell, the brine, water everywhere.
How you'll end up.
Yes, you'll feel the toll on your body.
You fly fast, and you don't worry.
Then, a lot of these problems go away.

Like Mardi Gras beyond bare breasts.
Like autopsy results on hold.

As We Walked

The sun is bright today, but it is not warm.

Some men are chasing a carrot. Trying to

win a way in. I don't know how

to tell them 

it is not warm

here.

I began only after a kick

in the seat by a stranger. It became me,

I became it. All into task. Task and

I, like an arrow.

We all are.

If we could accept the cold, become it,

we might have a chance. I am

trying, been trying

forever

in this cold