diesel lullabye

... noodling around.

---

sing for me, sing me tonight

the axles' hum, the gears that grind

at the turning of the light

lay you down. don't you cry.

give me now the addled rage

the futile hissing of the fires

burning in a cage

the dull echo of the tires

give me now a thousand years

the howling, plant-ly hosts

rising up along the gears

rolling on the backs of ghosts

now that fall has hit the ground

under the bright, high stars

the leaves are falling. lay me down

to the flashing hoods of cars

.. (xi).

lightning flashes

and they said, "God is laughing

         and beating his hand

         against the clouds"

and the crickets clack

         and they say, "the night

         sings, the dark hums"

and the wind blows

         and they say, "the trees

         dance, and the world walks

         with me--slings its arm

         around my shoulders"

then the smoke might

         as well be my friend

         might as well be

         my companion,

through the clacking 

night, under the blurring

of the stars

          might as well

          be my brother

          we watch

us and us only

as the lights dim

and the highway lays

          it's head on it's tail

... (ix)

the most dangerous aspect of love

being: that it robs us of sense

that it renders us unable

to bear reflection

come now, you lovers!--knuckles dripping

come now, over what you have shattered

shards glisten in your soles.

come! you vast and shambling company

--who knows how far we might walk?

for your sake--

I tore out my eyes.

ash (ii)

one of the boys across the street

is trying to learn a song

                  hear the chords grinding towards ascension

       he falters, pauses

cannot master

                      the solo

I am leaving

a trail of smoke, only

I have burnt to ash

fluttering and cold

I pause at the edge of the driveway

the cat pauses, also

and skirts me, as always

        I hold myself, hard

in the soles of my boots

in the pressure

    of the sky on my head

the mirrors have throw

their reflections

                             out

      --in a heap, sprawled

the chords rise

     straining, against themselves

and begin to dissolve

         shedding notes, clatter

fall senseless

    into disonance, and the player

confused, a little betrayed

noodles a progression

like a sparrow's howl

        disjointed, melodic

rage--lost in the bushes

the song of an axel

        --a screaming, circling hum

I will fall

      behind myself

a scatter, and the wind

will sweep the pavement clean

     

  

... (x)

written awhile ago, before I left.

---

bury me under silver skies

fading to blue

under drifts of hanging stars

bundled nebulae rising shaggy

thick and green

edged in light

sink me when

the birds are clicking

bury me face bare

to the dirt

I leave my corpse in trust

the dust and heavy rains

and trickle from the sprinkler

will tend it

the winds will tend it

when I come striding the boulevards,

again

heavy, and in defeated triumph

I will see my ghost

peering brightly through the leaves

I will take the hands of the seconds themselves

Coon-song

Coon-song

the sun-warm bricks
in the blue twilight
              the tide-pool hour
damp and glistening
as the light ebbs, sun sunk
the hills are darker
the trees are darker than the sky
the sky washes the streets
in hazy shadows
drenches the glass and chrome
a new bird speaks
sparking between the branches
not the startled moan
of the mourning dove
or the sharp and certain caw
of the crows
--the song of a star flashing
             the squat row of houses,
paths snaking to the door
lights under the ferns
standing dark and solid
unsheltered
against the clear
depths of the sky
they rise, roofs slashed
with quicksilver
into a wild kind of glory

the dead thing

it lumbered over to us--the dead thing

and stretched itself across the table

when it began to sicken, you said:

look what you've done, no wonder it's dying

look what you've done.

when I was sure it was dead--I went

to lose myself for awhile

I left you alone with the dead thing

and you knew it was dead

without me to chastise,

you were left alone with the stillness

Now it sits between us

nibbling ghostly fur

we could take our recent wisdom, you know?--

and grieve in each other's company