THE CIRCUIT BREAKER

The gelignite smile
was a cover for your
hostile child,  wasn't it?

There on the oaken pier
sighting tall ships
at a distance

Stands the secular recluse
who once was
in a foreign year.

Cable to your heart
Miss Dorie  .  mistake

I was much too child
like  .  You weren't.

THE CERTIFIED TIMES

The congenital apron
you wore to the drugstore
has been recovered
and pressed
into service
like an insect on a string

Since your husband recalls
neither past nor future
we can copulate
in relative safety
at your apartment.

Damn it,  says Laurie.
Adultery decays
consumes the American Family
like crypt lice.

REASON IN THE BIN

Captives of the open sky
find Corina on the bed
weeping with the glory
of it  .  the firm weather
delicate with cirrus
clouds of futurists
and other violent men.

We recall 
the casual eloquence
with which you submitted
to the binary surrogate
who appeared on Wabash
on a Chinese afternoon
sporting spats.

YEAST

The smell of death
like damp brown paper
twice dried and powdery
penetrates the lungs
and then the bloodstream
like vinegar dust
you can't exhale.

INCIDENT AT THE ROCKET FIELD

A killing on the sky ship
field  .  stun guns blazing
like mad propellants
in liquid configurations
of joy and blood.

He screams in pain
as a bolt hits him
breaking his shoulder
(articulate men,  vying
for flight)

Excuse me,  lover
Is that your arm
lying near the pit
of the Saturn Weekender.

THE POSTPONED GALLANT

Yes,  I am thrilled
with you
honing tortoise shelled razors
and mistaking living
for life.

When you were a child
I corrupted you
with tales of science,
occult allegiance
and animal fires.

If I told you
you were singing
would you consent
to villainous escape

In vehicles constructed
                                        by alien life.

A HARPSICHORD FOR BARTER

He has formulated a plan
for the inevitable

Stocking his dwelling
with whiskey and brooding
guns

Only on the hemisphere
you inhabit
has there been
a resurgence of criminal life

And with a smile
she protests
the lack of young women

To be used as food
for deep tunnel
survivalist tribes.