Pools of Desire

come down a helical trail
switchback in her eye
just above that silky veil
covered in butterflies
take a rest by her nose
sip of her clean tears
taste the mineral water-woe
erosion from last year



ceviche by a concertina barbacoa
tangerine beach for sunset lovers
sleep to lullabies of kraken and loa
wake in blood-vermilion dawn



such pretty little carmine spots
in millions swarm sun's light to blot
march and march and turn around
twist a tad attack with mouth
chew chew never stop
ladybugs murder slice and chop
crawl in our ears consume our mind
peer out from behind our eyes
witness our death-rattle's sigh


one and one and one make three
an anthill just beneath a willow tree
where we rest most happily
examining the paths and traces
the busy ants about their races
displaying the most refined of graces
a liver mad with esterases
antagonizes agonizingly


if it fit, let it be as it were: As a bee!


across a ridge like a hut should be here
strip down langour in möebius theory
it's a big field wide open and clear
heart beats in opium's comforting shroud
a view to the Interior seashore below
chip off cement and scars, wipe clean
kneel down and watch phantom pumas prowl


worms overlay and feel our sisters
in poisonous smoke and encrypted whispers
each quartz-kept solemn droning vespers
like a winch-cable strained and hot to blister
hackles rise at gorgetted misters
growls and coughs and hacking barks
no wonder they so fear the dark

Dessication Station

mauve and taupe in faded bright day
this plastic trash samurai's uniform decay
stabbing coke cans by the highway
as clouds scoot by and play
battered by blasts from passing traffic all day


maintain internal polarity while floating in space
charm them with your talent and remarkable grace
effervesce silently evaporate... all waste
turn all the lights away from this repulsive face
ticking rage away within timidity's suitcase


en las mesas juntos a la ciel
vive una cabeza mas elevada de dos mil
si que ese craneo vive bajo nos piel
asi ahora hora pegamentos como la miel


slide back in and pull the lever
transfer the click to bone
ripples outward from the temple
like calm pond after stone
nothing limbic is so simple
feed a cold and starve a fever
damaged goods to true believer:
If she's abusive, leave her

Winter Bitten

"Everything is dying"
she speaks into the dawn
this winsome pale old lady
she sings the carnivores songs
slide back into the shadows and shrug
it's not as if she's wrong



whether we get wed or simply turn up dead
we will be at the trailhead
it's a nice place to meet
here on Laramidia street
where the turtles lay their eggs on the beach to the east
caimans and bison and moose with webbed feet
ichneumon wasps the size of a helicopter fleet



pure blood spilled on snowy ground
small cold flies buzz and maggots play
wind breathes a quiet, dampening sound
tattered flags flap like the wings of decay
ice melts on eyelashes and streams down
at the beginning of the day



blade crafted leaf spring from a 1930s rig
cold night in winter stick a rabbit on a spit
in pockets wires and nails, marbles, stones and twigs
resourceful and resilient, little tools and big
with few real skills outside of math and nature, dig

Dutiful Dirges

her shape it twists and changes as you watch
try to catch her with your eye and you've lost
a presence looms from beneath
behind the ears is where she creeps
crack stone demeanor blood will leak
if we hadn't invited her we suppose we'd weep



we build the robots to build more things
new plastic toys and candy rings
posts that waste such energy
puffs of smog with each stroke of every key
collectively paying obeisance to entropy



The color of bones in the desert
cold breath of wendigo
blancmange and clotted cream
poisonous maida to the soul
black is earth and fertile ground
rich mystery of night
but the face of Sister Death herself
is blindingly skull-white

Fluff and Fascinations

dance a tarantella in the dusk
the hazy air of smoke and must
cold winter bluster chilblain the cheek
in salted snow boot leather grows weak
no fortune great waits for the meek
ride your galleon, if you have a Fate
greatness comes not to those who wait



herding cats among the weeds
wield butterfly nets for catch and release
get live traps for the geese
relocate those bastards North
clear out space for more exotics
let's get our natural selection on
who will rise and who will fall
smart money's on something very small


every time a fairy dies a bigot gets their wings
tell us sweet soft pillow lies as their blood begins to sing
marching boots and flames some broken glass again
punches to the face and teeth these harvesters of pain
an orgy of frustrated brutes is such a shitty thing



what's that word in baseball where you don't hit the ball but — ?
it's like that american football word for a kind of kick, a —!
or the smallest wonkey-legged kitten with the floppy ear, the —.
we're not feelin very creative but politicians are all —.

A Hungry Wind

hollow bleeding gouge and scoop
hosed-down concrete stained in rust
bleach-stench and the whines of dogs
dead-eyed boredom in pale guards' eyes
buzzing heap of glass blue flies
in gulag of our discontent
all our hopes and dreams are spent



We'd like to be a pair of shoes
slip right over some dainty toes
protect them from getting stubbed in the cold
sleep in a shoebox battered and old
right next to the wainscot-mold
in the vestibule



emergence from stems and insterstices
filling in empty voids and cells
injection-moulded scope of existence
hoping for a light at the end of this steep tunnel
a long waterslide through the heart of the earth
splashdown will be a surprise



all the depth of an LP's groove
under light of stars on the move
our breadth of vision of the land
feels like a single note
a mouse's fart underneath a chair
as choral symphony lashes
passion through the air


In the gaps between nightlife
a clean hot glow eclipses the Moon
crisp harsh light suffuses what was former gloom
all bones and murders become laid bare
in open antiseptic air
under daylight direct and sere
last night's crimes will become clear



¿Donde nos ninguna desde lacuna?
porque quereren bailemos en desierto de Luna
y comemos corazones como pumas


skulls are but hollow spheres
minus love and hopes and fears
bony caverns, homes for mice
spiders, centipedes, adorned with ice
frozen head wintry asphalt splendor
ice stalagmites a roadside cut
cascade paralytic comatose
black eyelids nevermore morose



BANG
starting gun went off eight decades ago
still he goes
tilt
rather than lash a dervish to relax
dynamic
elliptical interludes of ten to twenty miles
every day
pounding rubber soles to the metal — rock —dirt
—grass it doesn't matter
he can't stop


truck stop neon buzz, Fritz out:
Glorious dream of American Redoubt
vacuous echoes of horrors not grasped
these vapid wannabes, fat weak and ersatz
naive and coddled, they believe they worship death
but all they have in common with their heroes is meth


tow roe row the toad
hooping rolling down the road
poetic cephalopod overload
eat oreos, milk overflows
document the lore you know


hesitant ragged in between
pause and beg the breath inside
camouflage the vinegar fear
in this hollow keep do hide
in hiatus from the clear
open exposed forest brake
blood on fern means no mistakes
not for elk nor dappled deer

A Decorated Reef

grey-yellow aged grass
like a cactus' hairy nest behind hooked palisade
polly parrot impaled on a Barbied-wire fence
empty dry sockets gazing South whence
lies the jungle of her origin so dense
she can never return forever hence
we kill a few species for twenty five cents



bus stop sleeper in a surplus coat
gabardine fashion bundled tight at the throat
hauntings of deafening roars and creosote smoke
screeching brakes and squealing wheels
coughing hacking fits he chokes
discarded gargoyles in a sunbeam mobile
dance from civilization's loose ropes



in cold steppe vigil standing tall
still as stone standing at the wall
knee-high rubble won't stop anyone
so there she waits in midnight sun
her eyes like the sea her hair like bear
try to pass her if you dare



shed ye of your need for trust
in her domain the rules are just
as dagger tip is cleaned of rust
bare throat before her throne you must



Segregation is the order of the day
violence plus Repression is the American Way
it's lucky if you're rich enough to avoid the bullet spray
a hundred sirens howl and scream as you're making hay