THE FIRST DREAM

We watched as the sky
fills with sky things -
planes, balloons, parachutes.

A hot air balloon
lands near us
deflated and weighted with sand.

She takes me to the back
of the hangar
in which she lives.

It is a white room
with a view of the hills
and the meadows.

She said she is going
to Rome and I should be good.

THE MARRIAGE CART

Jesse wired his priest
and confessed
for the love,  the hate
the wanting.

There was no other
way.

He did the best he could
they said
and it was true.

From Europe to the Valley
he was always there
to be loved and unloved

MR. INVOCAL NED IN WINTER

No one has requested
that you give him
a name.

Nonetheless in your
living dream
you have called him
                           InVocal Ned
a worshiper of stones
and alder trees

He is from the tribe of Lugii
from the race of Wends

Yet no one has requested
that you give him a name.

FLY PAPER

The creature in the yellow
cage rips the air
with a voice
soon to be terror

It bites the web work
stalking the perimeter
on dangerous feet
till its eyes bleed

It will be Tuesday
one day
and limbs will surface
in ponds thawed by grace.

RETURNING TO EUROPE

We all realized
the world had begun

Our lips burned
and drawings were rendered

She told me she
had but one life

I understood it to mean
her eyes were upon us
 
And only then
did they dart into light

A perfect division
of sight and love.
 

THE STANDING PARTY

At midnight we touch
a nerve and recall passion.

She instilled in him
the lines of an ancient
poem he had written
which lies
somewhere about the house.

For maximum futures
in the good vein
he kissed the woman
who hovered near him
and the year began
who smiled
and that was it.

THE BOTANIST'S WOMAN

I have fallen in love
with the botanist's woman
as she moves
through the room
the skin crawls to her
and is content to touch.

There will be no suicides
in this year
there will be huge murders
in the park
in the alien sky.

Heir name is Laura
and her life is wire
taut with perfect lies.

LAURA ON THE ROOF

A rare devise
gathered in components
is activated
and proceeds to destroy
civilization as
                         you know it.

There is a street is Paris
which bears your name
convincing you
of gentle violence.

Even among the stars
an animal shrieks
and you are suddenly gallant.

WAX SEAL IN RED (1936)

The women walked
in the procession
of Saint James

Their bellicose children
rifled pockets
for petty cash

Great beasts were there
wading through streets
like ships in the stream.

Even before the night
there were fighting birds
gathering in trees.

THE BELLY COMB

There is no such man
and this is no beginning
for a child such as you

InVocal Ned confronts
your initial statement
referring to eager love

With his naming of stars
to his own liking
their opens a fire door

Candy for your youth
and icons in the hall
of ancient mirrors

replenish your life
your spirit also.

 

THE BAD MONKEY

We accept this division
of rain and water
as one would a reptile
alive without sound

Could we possibly
forgo this plow
and quickly
orbit the compass
 
And Sarah  .  is she
returning to her father
her insect lover
devouring this branch

of pale science
without recourse.

THE MISER STONE

Being touched in the lift
when you are blind
is akin to laughter
at a child's funeral

Each requires
its own tidewater lie.

Enter the man
with the painful hair
flooded with songs
he has devised

Anger returns
in a little boat
       and still we love you
       without weapons
Partial to rain.

YOUR CHILD IS WEEPING

God,  there were thousands
of them
As she toured in her vehicle
she saw the walled poor
and managed a tear
which she stored in a vile
as proof of her banquet
which they,  the others
in her path-
transformed and lively
like children in the country,
assailed with songs
and mist which ended
neither poverty
nor American lives.

TO LOVE IN JANUARY

We have taken
names and numbers
from the man in room 12

For this he has been given
scars
and lampshades

A patch has been quilted
over his arm
where her name had been

In the young wound
he imbeds
the perfect emerald.
 

SKY CITY

Jesse has spoken of countries
and wife love.

They are familiar
on approach  .  on recall

When the wife
is launching into
the world of men  .  she

Becomes an anecdote
with full asides and
the patter of a child's foot

God,  I do want her.

Commission me
for that which you regret. 

RED LIPSTICK . THE GIRL

Pretty penny
on the carpet
in a room
let for one night

It would be better
if once you mentioned
the time of your life

She  .  Leaving
the gathering distraught
which touch  (the lack of)

I will be close for I want
her and her wrist  .  watch.
 

THE HAZE REPORT (1943)

So you sang
in the winter
and bought the child
under a dubious law
your advocate concieved
to assure you
there would be
broods in the city
when all else dissipated
into convenient lectures
you never attend
nor took to your
precipitous heart.

BAD TIMES FOR LONERS

In the last days
he enjoyed it
in a convoluted way

All he ever wanted
was her pity  .  pity

It was difficult
to be there
in that family of women

With their serious grief
displayed like banners
in a flitting wind

He have been
one of them
to a quivering fault.

CARGO AND FATA MORGANA

Perhaps you should
not question her dreams
her wanderings in January

If she spoke to you
on the train you would be
shy and nervous

a daylight creature
considers this
a breech of conscience

The onset of vague
and constant eclipses
placates a world of danger.
 
 

FLOATERS

We are two kids in the night
with bicycles
and tuned muscles

Working on the wire
with a net
comforts one's sanity

Crime and adventure
with minimum risk
makes for a good life

Being first at the opera
you find the body
in an air duct.

THE CLINGING MONKEY

The outcome of this night
depends on holy income.

Wee baby lit
into the future

We have delegated
the good doctor's

Wheelbarrow
under the red sky

With a modicum
of sanity .  sobriety

You encountered

Celtic men and alder trees
begrudging your alphabet.

SEEDS FROM SPACE

The art book as coaster.

This results in random killings

Of men named Fragonard.

For Crazy Joe it has always been

A sobering thought.


Editions were numbered 1 through 26

And each one was signed

In a particle of temperment
 
Like a skin movie.

A returning  whore
 
Now asking you favors.


And the creatures creep across the carpet

Like seeds from space.

 
 
 

 

MISTER GEIGER'S WIFE

She is like a doubtful
survivor
from a gaudy life

The child was handled
by miscreants
in glass house time

The other day
burglars appeared
from Mars

Saint baby jubilee
cruised the evening
active with bells.

PARCHED NUMBERS

The architect folds
on the wire
easing the options
of others
     into the sepentine
                   stream

He approaches the woman
with practiced anecdotes
and splinter the love
(he is considering)
into unwieldy shards

(says)

If you tattoo the lady
I'll give up
              the Mayan devise.

TORCH SONG

On Armitage avenue
they are wrapping
old blouses
about long branches

They are binding
with twine
the crinoline kerosene
loving the gibbous moon

A spark is struck
and lord we have
a town engaged
in violence

In winter the folk
lean gently toward arson.

THE CELLO IN THE FOREST

Fashioned by night
the fever magician
engages a bird of prey

Hood and claw
like stark leather
conceal the frequent

Floater in the warm sky
and his forearm
bleeds with shaded evenings

Here the wolves gather
in snow terrain
in warrior weather.

WHITE SHIPS

And what will you tell me
about this night
when the coin age went
to assuage the purveyors
of pre-columbian
love.

So what of your eyes
bloated with sight
angered with laughter
unable to cry

Your woman is not
with you  .  is not
coming back to you.
Ever!

THE GNAWING CLASS

Morgan Le Fay

She brandishes her eyes
like an opera
thick with baritones
          and spears
          returning
from questionable wars

On her wrist is a bracelet
exhorting the islands
An insignia of sorts
bearing the name of a lesser god

On her shoulders a tallith
crewel and fair
                   with her child's hair
deeply embroidered.