go blow

What caps the great well.
The hands are bound and
The little boy cannot hold it.
What does it mean?
The clouds bumble by
And the birds sing obliviousness.
The boy grows up into glass,
Joins his place in the case.
Shouldered beside the others.

admitted

one more before
the expiry there is
an uncountable
badness i jam my
hands into
pockets this world
is an ice cube beautiful
and cold no one
has ever told me
why perhaps only
because it doesn't i feel
affinity with sinking
lights a long time
ago i carried
knives i was sorry
for the both
of us the times i woke
up and couldn't
remember or the times
i did and it didn't
make sense to either
of us at
all.

upside down to clean it

i am trying to expire
desire a clean black
expanse confronts
me daily i
spilled orange
juice in it an honest
enough mistake
when you fist walked
home when you told her
nothing in fact was
wrong you are
the lights above the city you are
the left foot in front of
the next.

something off the brain

Somnolent wreck.
Flesh through the sweater.
The sexual complaints of abu anabi.
Could someone tell me why.
A truncated ring tone.
Who are you sleeping with now.
And then it all descends to ali.
A mix of brick and paint made to look as if brick.
Glottal. Glottal. Stop.

in the bag

kittens inspired by kittens

Forget the cities.
They never taught you
how to eat blueberries.
Walk over
the black hood face
down; instead kiss
the sidewalk a kiss
for your killer. I thank
you honestly,
truly,
from the still low empty,
mute gut emptied.
God that it would only be
what I squeezed into
my fist. My inky super
fist.

high praise

I am unmoved
unmanned
unhanded, hand
over hand to the top
of the ropes. From here
I can see almost
to the brink Four
counties Sissel
and the beanstalk
Hand over
hemoglobin Lovingly
scratched to the blank
bags of being Mother
embossment monogrammed
items unlikely to
be accepted upon intent
or acceptance
of return.

la la la la la la la la

You're up there
Took the stairs
To the stars all alone
You left all the lights burning
But nobody's home
I believe they deceived your tuneful heart too long
Now they sing along

--from Help Me by Alkaline Trio

small pome

blur and then blush and then
an ode to the cleaner, his long-handled
stick. stickiness. i stick to you
like glue. like the pungent wipe of disgrace
that would not leave my hand after eating. once
i took this same plane as the return
from adultery. i wondered what i would
tell you. that's not true. i knew
exactly the words i would employ, with what
hatchery and hatchetery i would bloodily
birth it, serve it
to you ugly and born
on a plate.
43 minutes.
we accelerate from space,
emptiness solid to something slightly
less so, a mist, half
tasted flavor, an old ring, or the cobble
crack cinder heel hair breast red
chest and tortured. ground.
i would like to call this love.
i would like it
very much.

White Mule

In a heat wave enter the rose gardens of Portland.
The victory of rose names over the heat, the victory of bees over all.
Sun, I do not speak your language
and yet you shout louder.

White mule climbs steps to a Greek villa
to be sent down again. Such is the heart.
The mule and the switch have their conversation.
It is okay to be a tourist in your life, but not an impostor.

Convoy of mule days, convoy of mule heart—
low card brings it in, high takes half the pot.

umbrella today

umbrella today says: bring your umbrella
umbrella today says: don't
umbrella today says: high chance of showers
umbrella today says: are you retarded? bring your umbrella
umbrella today wonders why we bother
umbrella today says: at least for the moment
umbrella today says: i'm listless
umbrella today says: obviously
umbrella today thinks the hard thoughts
umbrella today says: why do we always have to have this conversation
umbrella today: the life you save may be your own
umbrella today says: it's raining. still.
umbrella today prepares for the flood
umbrella today: a new wet you
umbrella today says: yes, still raining
umbrella today wonders when next we'll see the sun
umbrella today is ambivalent
umbrella today is already inside, so by all means, go fuck yourself
umbrella today recommends galoshes
umbrella today says: learn to swim
umbrella today says: well duh
umbrella today: yes

don't call me at work
and aw no
the boss still hates me
i'm just tired
and i don't love you anymore

and there's a restaurant
we should check out
where the other nightmare people
like to go
i mean nice people
baby wait
i didn't mean to say nightmare

-- from They'll Need a Crane, TMBG

oh look it's a goose

broadcast from the high dry
hillocks. affixed with stitch
and strategy. primary
and angular, of stocky
stiffened cloth.

hands pushed the small shoulders forward.

there's no need to say it differently.

a small boy kneecaps capped in green grass
marched before them waving
fifty-two pinpoints on an ethereal
flag

i think we must simply
adjust

to the readout, of your Climate
Control Center which reminds me
of the clash
of the titans if the titans
were an intricasy of inscrutable
levers i mean that
lee-vers, say it with me and already
it's exploding
like some hot
tomato in the grasp
of some outright lonely
lobe.

cracking it open

Just think he said if
we cracked it open like
pancakes i said no
he said nothing
like that at all oh
i said well
then.

once again again

i am at
the still place where
the low voice bawls where
the clock indistinguishes
itself against
the dull
half murmuring
heart.

the night is
glass is
cold on the back
of my neck like
some bitter iced
remembrance i remember
when you saw it tears you
wiped from
your eyes.

what we held on that ugly
carpet our bony young
bodies one summer what
could possibly stand
against all this steady
dripping steady
happening steady
memory accumulated happening
like dust like rust like
the still the still i
want to. i want you. is
what i wanted to say and
never.

small song

my bed 2 A.M.
the silence my friend
is another dull tone on the line

and slowly the moon
sings another pale tune
and already already i am fine

in the dust far behind me
lies the salt of your tears

in the blue sea before me
lies the waste of my years

i thought once i'd make it
but now i know clear

that nothing will ever be mine

black ribbons

i left you walking half
to forever in all the barns
hands were turning mad
pulleys still upon
the doorknob i left
you even when i
looked i split
my lips.

i don't fit in much
of anywhere between
the thrall and the frame kid
socks and fingers worn
where i've used them my
intention no more than the
knobs of an old
electric.

blood tears and teeth
blood tears and teeth
blood tears and teeth
blood tears and teeth

morning on the train (on a bookmark, my bookmark)

what is wrong
with a dog in the grass. today
the sun is on my knees.
a smile is on the garage
door. and everywhere
the monochromatic joy
of the sky. five
thousand humans move
together. air blows
because of a process
involving freon. rings
mark the hands
of the taken. when
the ground cries out what
it's missing always is
the cadence of their
boots.

the questions of your life (phase 1)

• If you had to identify yourself as composed of three different authors, who would they be?
  
  
• If your house/apartment/cardboard-box was on fire and you could grab only one item before escaping, what would it be?
  
  
• Would you rather live by the mountains or by the sea?
  
  
• What song would you like to die to? What song should play at your funeral? Are they the same song?
  
  
• What animal are you? If you want to, explain.
  
  
• What would it take to make you give up everything?
  
  
• Describe your ideal breakfast. This means more than just the food. Where are you sitting? What's the light like? What are you wearing on your feet?
  
  
• What's the last thing that made you cry? If you refuse to cry, what's the last thing that made you feel oh so very bad?
  
  
• Bestow on yourself a nickname. Don't tell anyone what it is. You may have noticed that this is not a question. Do it anyway.
  
  
• Suppose you're stuck in a weird acid flashback, in which 5 minutes of your past keeps happening over and over, an endless loop. What happens in that 5 minutes?