The gymnast is in the tree
forgetting elbows and knees
are made with bone and skin
not just shapes good for
wrapping around
limb in limb
shimmying leaves.
May 27 09
Golden
You're golden
You glow
You glint in your glory
You think
and don't catch yourself
You think
and don't care
Your eyes think
and swerve
and bend the gold
golden light
on its way out.
May 27, 09
You glow
You glint in your glory
You think
and don't catch yourself
You think
and don't care
Your eyes think
and swerve
and bend the gold
golden light
on its way out.
May 27, 09
Small Measures
The things in bottles that swim
the length of my body
are shorter than my arm
And the spirit that rises off my breath
is even smaller.
My life is thinner than my shadow
and my dreams even thinner.
The love that fills my hands
is weaker than my sleep
and the strength to hand it to you
weaker.
May 12, 09
the length of my body
are shorter than my arm
And the spirit that rises off my breath
is even smaller.
My life is thinner than my shadow
and my dreams even thinner.
The love that fills my hands
is weaker than my sleep
and the strength to hand it to you
weaker.
May 12, 09
Naming
The children are not to be cared about
nor are the dying
the hopeless
the slaves of others
the spaces of darkness
in mouths
in hands
in roads
in homes
between bodies
They are to be known
and named.
May 12, 09
nor are the dying
the hopeless
the slaves of others
the spaces of darkness
in mouths
in hands
in roads
in homes
between bodies
They are to be known
and named.
May 12, 09
The White and I
It's the first time I've painted over my name
Covering this frame in my manipulated dream
was easier
even with eyes closed
than this new white
It wants to rake and bald
The white and I hold arms
and don't question the nature of our relationship
It was clear with the colors and lines
I drew, it came
Now who is going or coming
disappearing or returning
is uncertain and unimportant
The river does not stop catching rain
just because it's full
It swells indiscriminately
sending and being sent
on.
May 12, 09
Covering this frame in my manipulated dream
was easier
even with eyes closed
than this new white
It wants to rake and bald
The white and I hold arms
and don't question the nature of our relationship
It was clear with the colors and lines
I drew, it came
Now who is going or coming
disappearing or returning
is uncertain and unimportant
The river does not stop catching rain
just because it's full
It swells indiscriminately
sending and being sent
on.
May 12, 09
Tangle
Ankles tangle
Mouths and their words tangle
The past and the dreams about it
tangle
Now and now on tangle
Love and all its branches
tangle.
There's nothing but to sleep like this
nothing but to say nothing
in all the trust it takes to
keep silent.
may 12, 09
Mouths and their words tangle
The past and the dreams about it
tangle
Now and now on tangle
Love and all its branches
tangle.
There's nothing but to sleep like this
nothing but to say nothing
in all the trust it takes to
keep silent.
may 12, 09
My Weight
If I was as light as that top limb
I'd move when you do
leaping at your passing
Why have you given me the weight
of a moon with its broad orbit
I long to return with the rain
reversing its fall
I long for you to let me move
into you.
may 7, 09
I'd move when you do
leaping at your passing
Why have you given me the weight
of a moon with its broad orbit
I long to return with the rain
reversing its fall
I long for you to let me move
into you.
may 7, 09
Waiting Out Truth
I want to see it when the first cloud lets go
I want to have it memorized before I write one word
truth tries to shake me, wanting to be left alone
to happen in secret
It sends the ants in a storm underfoot
but I don't leave the side
of the heavy striped sky
It sends the day's plans, its time
but I only watch the mosquitoes clear out of the way
I will wait for you, truth
I know you plan to fall here,
out of the way
as we run for cover of roofs
But the Lord has said
wherever I turn, he will whisper your whereabouts
And I will even enjoy waiting on you
as the moss enjoys itself in the wintertime.
may 7, 09
I want to have it memorized before I write one word
truth tries to shake me, wanting to be left alone
to happen in secret
It sends the ants in a storm underfoot
but I don't leave the side
of the heavy striped sky
It sends the day's plans, its time
but I only watch the mosquitoes clear out of the way
I will wait for you, truth
I know you plan to fall here,
out of the way
as we run for cover of roofs
But the Lord has said
wherever I turn, he will whisper your whereabouts
And I will even enjoy waiting on you
as the moss enjoys itself in the wintertime.
may 7, 09
Why We Have Arms
You know it's a butterfly
because it moves nothing else
though its black wings beat wildly
under the green shadows
they are the only things sobbing
Because they are our ghosts
flying just out of reach to show us
we have eternity to be ourselves
beating black wings against shadows
The life without wings is for holding
other warm, wingless bodies.
May 7, 09
because it moves nothing else
though its black wings beat wildly
under the green shadows
they are the only things sobbing
Because they are our ghosts
flying just out of reach to show us
we have eternity to be ourselves
beating black wings against shadows
The life without wings is for holding
other warm, wingless bodies.
May 7, 09
Trees Have
The trees can't wait for the sun
they don't
They climb the exiled hills
and hug their slopes
The can hold their heads so high
there's no one to look
to see
if they're missing limbs
or faces
They don't wait for the world to descend
in concrete or its mirrors
Their roots move the earth
take it with them
They don't need a face to save
or lose on the way
They have roots that move
the earth around them.
May 7 09
they don't
They climb the exiled hills
and hug their slopes
The can hold their heads so high
there's no one to look
to see
if they're missing limbs
or faces
They don't wait for the world to descend
in concrete or its mirrors
Their roots move the earth
take it with them
They don't need a face to save
or lose on the way
They have roots that move
the earth around them.
May 7 09
Washed Them White as Snow
I will not tell you about everything
about how he's gone crazy
and we all had a hand in it.
We didn't.
We washed them instead
long before
long before the angry crowd asked us to
We washed them white as snow
in our own blood
spilling from our missing ears.
We didn't know.
We took them off
When he said those who have ears
we took them off ourselves
let them hear
and heard be washed in the blood of selfrighteousness
be washed by selfishness
by self.
And what is the blood of the lamb?
wash yourself of him
Who is the brother you can see?
wash yourself of him
Where is the God you cannot?
wash yourself of him.
We never had a hand in it.
may 7, 09
about how he's gone crazy
and we all had a hand in it.
We didn't.
We washed them instead
long before
long before the angry crowd asked us to
We washed them white as snow
in our own blood
spilling from our missing ears.
We didn't know.
We took them off
When he said those who have ears
we took them off ourselves
let them hear
and heard be washed in the blood of selfrighteousness
be washed by selfishness
by self.
And what is the blood of the lamb?
wash yourself of him
Who is the brother you can see?
wash yourself of him
Where is the God you cannot?
wash yourself of him.
We never had a hand in it.
may 7, 09
Trying to Pray with You
I hold my breath
like walking through their cigarette trail
like walking through their clothes too lived in
just like you do through those prayers
trying to live and breathe air
crowded over with habit.
may 7, 09
like walking through their cigarette trail
like walking through their clothes too lived in
just like you do through those prayers
trying to live and breathe air
crowded over with habit.
may 7, 09
In Here
In here, behind the door
there is only one alive
only one system of blood and breath
And she is tired
of knowing herself
of loving herself
of seeing herself
only
and not being.
May 7, 09
there is only one alive
only one system of blood and breath
And she is tired
of knowing herself
of loving herself
of seeing herself
only
and not being.
May 7, 09
The Glory Boy: a Poem for Children, for You
The Glory Boy jumped over the fence
using his hands
He didn't know he was flying
You never know things you can do
when you just do them.
Glory Boy stood at the top of the tree
thinking about the neighborhood
of lego houses
not thinking about how he got
on top of that tree.
Glory Boy built New Chicago on his floor
complete with red legos for Armour Square
and gold ones for Lincoln Square
and a grey bedsheet for the lake
it stretched all the way under the bed
and he never thought
about how a boy could make a new place
like that.
The Glory Boy dreamed and dreamed
blueprints, footprints, and picture books
of tomorrow.
May 5, 09
using his hands
He didn't know he was flying
You never know things you can do
when you just do them.
Glory Boy stood at the top of the tree
thinking about the neighborhood
of lego houses
not thinking about how he got
on top of that tree.
Glory Boy built New Chicago on his floor
complete with red legos for Armour Square
and gold ones for Lincoln Square
and a grey bedsheet for the lake
it stretched all the way under the bed
and he never thought
about how a boy could make a new place
like that.
The Glory Boy dreamed and dreamed
blueprints, footprints, and picture books
of tomorrow.
May 5, 09
Count Me
Do you count me when you count the stars?
Do you feel my pulse when you lie still and silent?
Do you hear me run my hands in my hair when you walk through leaves?
Do you count me when you count days?
Do you feel my weary wildness behind your eyes when you close them?
Do you hold my hands in an effortless dance?
Do you count me when you count pages?
Do you read the truth to me as they turn?
Do you ask me the questions I've asked you?
Do you count me when you count the clouds?
May 5, 09
Do you feel my pulse when you lie still and silent?
Do you hear me run my hands in my hair when you walk through leaves?
Do you count me when you count days?
Do you feel my weary wildness behind your eyes when you close them?
Do you hold my hands in an effortless dance?
Do you count me when you count pages?
Do you read the truth to me as they turn?
Do you ask me the questions I've asked you?
Do you count me when you count the clouds?
May 5, 09
Braille Hands
The loveliness of your hands
asking the same questions
that They wail in cacophonous choruses
draws me
just me without my answers or ideas
into that lingering season.
May 2, 09
asking the same questions
that They wail in cacophonous choruses
draws me
just me without my answers or ideas
into that lingering season.
May 2, 09
Ghosting
Two winter days ghost about
They come after their bodies in my pockets
I roll them through my fingers
cool bright stones
let them out
and dig shallow spring graves
in the soft mud by the road.
My heel gives last rites
and the ghosts are forced Heavenward.
May 2, 09
They come after their bodies in my pockets
I roll them through my fingers
cool bright stones
let them out
and dig shallow spring graves
in the soft mud by the road.
My heel gives last rites
and the ghosts are forced Heavenward.
May 2, 09
A Possessed Poem
It's not enough to
cross through wrong words.
They need boxes drawn around them
to stop the shattered ink
to make it dry in the lines
and chase no other poems
into the lake like swine.
Ap 24, 09
cross through wrong words.
They need boxes drawn around them
to stop the shattered ink
to make it dry in the lines
and chase no other poems
into the lake like swine.
Ap 24, 09
To Today
Your sister day
it was the same
in another colour.
I came from the sun dreams
ready for silence to hum,
Not to care that time and space
stretch like a summer tree
and the words I hang my days on
turn out to be ants going up
limb to leaf.
They know your sister day -
they lined up in sentences under her silence
and marched all the way here
to see what colour you'd be.
Ap 24, 09
it was the same
in another colour.
I came from the sun dreams
ready for silence to hum,
Not to care that time and space
stretch like a summer tree
and the words I hang my days on
turn out to be ants going up
limb to leaf.
They know your sister day -
they lined up in sentences under her silence
and marched all the way here
to see what colour you'd be.
Ap 24, 09
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