Star Storm

Stay drunk, you; Keep worrying. Preoccupied With what’s next. Can’t sleep Without churning Sheets like shorebreak. Tumbled concrete, Husking winds, Hissing palm trees, Gravel bullets Of sky-spat rain. The hole is growing Withdrawn chill Bring out the star storm Get it over with.

Wasn’t I Just Here?

Wasn’t I just here Dragging the hose to the top of this hill When Mom wasn’t looking, on the phone Eroding the soil to catch it At the bottom with a friend, shovels, and a dam Before it floods my parent’s bedroom? Wasn’t I just here, throwing a party Snapped sprinkler heads and underage drinking? [...]

Floodgate

Closing my eyes against this real light, I see warm red through my eyelids And if I stretch my hand out blind like this I can imagine caressing your face, Turning your chin up to taste your full lips And the salt tang of the sea That has faerie dusted them. Hanging out in trees [...]

Cricket Machine

It is cold in this basement Cracks in the casement Windows leak whatever warmth To the suckling of the cold. Share! Share creaks the air Of that many mouthed night sky. In a forest of bare breasted trees, Their raiment mulching around their knees Winds a path I build when I first got here Now [...]

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 [...]

Thee Angelkitten

A purring song of liquid honey Angelkitten, Burnished golden metallic wings, Diamond-bright dinky halo and Those kitten-soft feet to mommy-paw Your eyes shut at sleepytime, Hunting your hair, As the wind from the waves of her home, Corner-of-your-eye cat-quick paranoid spirit Of Cleopatra Mykelti kittenator flatulator, Calling-cards framing those other cats, Wrestling with an orange [...]

Pine Tree

I climbed up as far as my courage And strength would take me One day in the life of a monkey-boy; Those branches were spaced With a long-armed youth in mind – A kind encouragement Beckoning boys to the heavens, That grandfather pine tree still stood As of the date of this writing, And it [...]

A Christmas Vision

Quietly now, the children are sleeping While we two are creeping to bite cookies and leave them. Practical worries about the yearly tour of duty: Every floorboard creaks, every giggle recognizeable; Make sure the flat of the hearth is newly sooty, Make sure the stockings are equally full. Finally finished, our excitement diminished By the [...]

Balancing Act

When does it all come crashing down; a sawed-through tree trunk, an old building downtown – this balancing act of teacups and champagne flutes, china, crystal, candles, coffee, coriander and cinnamon. Sanity on low wattage wire heating up in the house walls threatening to start a fire when the force of gravity falls.

Untitled Poem #169

we write poems when our tongues tie together in my mouth, behind your lips; unspoken words like unnoticed snow in the shade of a tree in the high mountains.

The Decay of a Cartoon

The poet sojourns to the real world, concerned with education and finances, too busy with real matters to watch his own walk like a bluejay on a telephone line assuming it is his, too bust to enjoy the glances at his jester clashed clothing and his odd squatting posture, recounting endless stories of dubious origin. [...]

Where You Are in the World

a star winked out in the nighttime sky and did not return my love as I cast into the heavens; a sword standing still riding my mind like the hip of a warrior. one oboe quietly mediates the tree’s disputes about who is shading who as I am walking through. there is no medium for [...]

A Poem for Me

a leaf falls from a tree so that it may grow stronger; healthy without its burden of dead weight this tree will rise to higher heights. and me, without my dead leaves will also soar as high.

Untitled Poem #148

wherever you walk I watch from treetops still your little blue boy. my eyes haven’t suffered the same sanding that my heart has. I see like an eagle hunts and my heart heals. I see a sad Druid. the crows raise eyebrows at me but I show them my eyes and they understand. we’re all [...]

He Stood Like a Tree

he stood like a tree on the edge of a cliff before the sea and raised his arms as if wearing a cloak, as if they were wings. his voice flew to the clouds in the sky calling them to fly for him. the breathing of the wind hummed in his ears, the earth fell [...]

Cat Hide

I am the prickle which makes your mother start and cover your eyes as if you, being young don’t know the fear of the closet. I am the voice that whispers through the crack; all that’s left when the door is shut tight, caressing you with words from a green foot-long tongue, slithering out from [...]

Untitled Poem #131

I slunk from the sea late last night to stand in a moon-dappled room under a broad-leafed tree to write these words from the ocean, dripping and streamered with ribbons of seaweed, leaving the smell of wet salt and wind behind for the forest whose paper this is.

Laura Swings Her Skirts

I will sing you a song softly of a little girl I remember dreaming, who would wink into the faces of the flowers to see them smile, perfume tickling her nose all the while as she would wander secret places. this little girl I did love as I seemed to quietly spy from the trees [...]

On a Brook

On coming to a brook I think I’ll find A way across from rock to slip’ry rock. The gaps between are wide and hard to time When jumping ‘cause they’re just too far to walk. My strides are longer with the nerve to leap; A sure-foot method always startles me. Even though I am not [...]

The Sun at the Edge of the World

in the photograph, taped at the corners, we were caught falling into the river with smiles and half-closed eyes; flowers were falling on the glossy surface in the middle of the white album page, shifting the reflection of the sun. outside the open oak-framed window, shining over the tall broad-leafed trees, and the clouds spiraling [...]

Sick of It

but tired of listening to nothing worthwhile, I got a glass of water, I walked a long way, I climbed a sturdy tree and listened to a worthwhile nothing.

Untitled Poem #107

A saddened tree Dips slender limbs Into her reflection In the quiet lake; There she catches Litter.

Chinese Imitation Poem #2

water falls as an old man’s beard which grows down flat to the sea. a summer trickle leaves hung moss; a drip makes music like wind bells. a tree nearby sends leaves as boats to drift into the setting sun.

Untitled Poem #103

I can hear the sound of the ocean as I float in my sea of whipped cream sheets. the wind in the trees outside my window calls me softly to sleep.

Untitled Poem #100

I heard the liquid drums pounding and the silver sky tore apart. the moonbeams fell sharp and screaming bending their rainfall to my face. I smelled the coming heat and the clouds were writhing soundless. the wind chimes swung emptily, wailing their grief into the night. I saw the many trees dancing and the glow [...]