Stealer Friend

She had an idea
after I had tried to steal all the electricity
but it flickered between my hands
after she had tried to escape
but found the horizontal waters
might as well be a gate
so she had a point
when she said I should steal the Pacific
fold it neatly
just a freshly washed tablecloth
to rest our elbows on.

Sept 24, 2010

A Life Shed

A life drops its pretensions
its mourners come closer
less and less sure
what their days were about before
gradually gaining on one another
gradually sure that here at least
is a place to be
between one another.

sept, 24, 2010

The Oxfords

scuff the seams of the soles
the threads heavy loosen
the weave of hatch scuff relax
scuff a wrist across its mouth
to dry scuff as the pavement
the arch scuff the wings scuff the tongue
scuff the laces
the world scuff apart around them
they match scuff together on their way.

sept 15, 2010

Slide After Slide

The world becomes a picture
not yet dry, sticking against its frame
the singe of street lamps in a sunset skin
their early flare, warming through still summer canopies
they contract, more distinct, now leaves
singular and sifting against others
in the sudden early night
or at least a dimmer slide of light
the projector clacks
the late and long transparencies pass
and here the world is drying
in new textures.

sept 15, 2010

Time to Lie

you don't have time to clear your throat
by the time we meet eyes
we have lied
then of course the next thing
is to assault and batter
your mouth with mine
my nouns threaten and verbs fist up
all we can do
there's just enough time
to drop our faces in hands and hands in our laps
to silently meet all blind
and inchoate.

Sept 15, 2010

Pinning

If I could see the stars - 
but look at these clouds.
When you ask for the answer
a pin through the wing
scatters meaning
tears what you have
and eventually even that
dust dries without its colours.

sept 7, 2010

From the Shades

With the sun in my eyes
I stare into the shades
hard, because from there is where
the next thing comes
alongside me races
the long-haired boys
different textiles
of the same dream
the boys that saunter
towards me ever
with things, something
to say, but
I don't want to hear.
Stay in the shades.
I'll stare from here
with the sun in my eyes.

Sept 7, 2010

English as a Second Language

Language is re-entering
a return from lurking along
leads that it was not wholly lucid of
it learned a lot.
all alone
it understood that it is its own rule
complete with goals and shoulds
but that did not equal any thing
but only one thing
that it includes its own limits
that it was liminal
limited infinite
and only then did it return to me.

sept 15, 2010

To Fall For

The first thing to fall for is beauty
the second is imperfection, shy from the first
The third is restlessness
and the fourth its alliterative particular, reticence
there are more to fall
headlong into the crowded world for.

Sept 1, 10

A Merge

language speaks us like water pulls at our lips
when the roar of the trees and 
your muffled heart get confused
when the silk of a scarf and
you notice the silk of a forearm
didn't begin merging
but were
the same from the start
which is when?

sept 1, 10

The Mountain Pass

We dare again
the mountain pass
the smother of shut earth
shut stars
We smile crazy or going
into one another's wide eyes
We dare the pass
we either demand or beg
our way against the winter
we are not shocked
that the earth is killing us
There are dreams of the downward
the lick of a valley
dry and warm as a cat's tongue
We made it last year
we dare again.

sept 13, 2001

Dishonesty

the words are already lies
but what they do
and you do
it can't be mistaken
take their little dishonesties
and summon their hauntings
and if they are
you must hear the whine
of such weight on so little construction.

sept13, 10