Relent with Ruth

lick Death with a scourging whip
no matter how quietly she may drift
her bones will bring a clatter
she says what it takes to get her fix
so blood is dripping down her gown
so go all the wails and moans
into emerald tatters —



down the gulch there's an old swingset
doesn't seem to have been ever even used once yet
there it stands pristine and old
surrounded by cholla and creosote
walking round the hillside it cuts
see the red chains, white seats blue struts
a peaceful place for quail and ducks



a simple twist a flip of the gel
turns out the place isn't so bad
nothing at all like any other hell
good light and the walls are thick and sturdy
six by five might make you thirty
but either way clean it and it won't be dirty




In hush and still air a thought dark cracks
spills into my eyes
a dawn of grit and heat — sun's high blast
fair witless stand witness my demise
these singularities and simple facts
lonesome dancing's all there is
it is no heaven but this is bliss
time marches on as hearts react



you can polish all you want
but you can't shine a mine
polluting mother earth
is murdering the divine



at the end of the hallway, the agora at the lift
concrete block tenement has its own unique taste
blind schedule relentless to interstitial lives lived
latchkey apartments, condos, small spaces
jam-packed in airtight, unlikely to drift