Chloe Dancing

A feeling I caught, awash in sand and sea
Bringing back some faint, foolish memory:
Chloe and stickman and rockman and I
In love for an evening because we were high.
Iceplant and kindling on the Santa Barbara sand
A stage built for my improvised puppets and hands.
Under the star-patched, moon-cloudy sky
We loved Chloe dancing, sticks, rocks, and I.

Risen

That which may sink still may rise
Those who are living still may die
Rock may crumble, trees may fall
A king may sit in an empty hall
Mountains may soar to support the sky
If lightning speaks, will thunder reply?
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Wood may break, iron can rust
That which is sunken still might rise
Even those who are [...]

Hang On to the Rope

I wish I could string and sell
These beads of sweat;
They keep dripping in my eyes
And leaping
From the tip of my nose.
I can’t stop pulling on this rope –
The mine car can’t slip any further
Down those tracks.
I don’t know why I took this job
But it’s a challenge
And I hurt in every bone.
I’ve found muscles I never [...]

For Your Majesty

I
I can imagine a perfect spot
to have a picnic with you today;
the sky is a wee bit grey
at the edges –
I caught as many clouds as I could
with my butterfly net
(I came in wet
early this morning from the rain-dew
on the unmown grass stems).
II
I’ve [...]

One Paper Airplane Left to Go

Alone on a rock
at the sunset’s death,
I sit with a paper airplane,
waiting to throw it away;
an edge of a cliff,
folded paper and a hope,
both wishes for things to last;
a long flight or
a short plummeting fall;
either we go on
or we don’t
and I’m waiting for the sun
to go on
or I won’t.

Hush

you asked me once upon a time
if I could hear the speech of the sea.
I said yes and that
was where are agreement ended;
you heard eulogies, laments,
cries of change and supportive flesh,
the echoes of watery hands
drumming on cliffsides,
rolling rocks into its stomach,
a maelstrom of creative fury
controlled and unleashed
by the whim of the innocent moon.
But when I [...]

Black Jack

I
and when the madness comes
she creeps around the corridors,
pausing to stomp on cats’ tails
pausing to drive in rusty nails
and slam subconscious doors
behind my eyes.
II
it would be easy one day
to fall down and stay,
not moving, wherever I was
and not respond to my rescuers;
to get placed away for refusing to speak
or move or do anything for myself.
so [...]

say MUSHROOM

floating cold down a river
full of rocks and branches
on a little ring of rubber tubing -
it’s supposed 2 B lots of fun
but that’s where I got this bruise.
it still hurts;
I still limp.
gimp.
chimp.
pimp.
stimpy.

Gnomes

Geoff and I hiked
to find a level place,
to stretch out with the countryside,
to stop and have a smoke.
trading the pipe-stem back and forth
- when one would speak,
the other would listen -
blowing thoughtful smoke rings
and laughing with the ease of friends.
we sat upon a king of rocks
[...]

Imitation of Jazzie B from Soul II Soul

check this out:
I keep on moving don’t stop the clock
I can’t keep on without the tick-tock so I
I walk on, rock on, keeping my shoes on
I hear you sigh and sing the blues on the corner
by the storefront windows. I stop and I listen.
I remember us doing some kissin’
but I cannot [...]