in quiet streets

i set up shop

with woven sheets

and bottletops

with shuddered breath

and stuttered sigh

from poisoned chest

to passersby

i pull him out

that devil seed

the gripping want

the frantic need

to break my back

to suck my sap

to find a lack

and make it laugh

i bottle it

go down the road

how easy with

just half the load

—

can i get an amen

can’t i catch a break

i chase it up top

i forgot about the storm

i’m swallowing spit

and my eyes are dry

but it's warm and it's ball one

and the coin flips over

my lungs ache and my heart melts

and it comes up heads

why not give it a try

amen

—

and to all the different kinds of blue

the refuse of a happy tune

the one that comes in afternoons

the now, the never, sometime soon

on waves that tumble to the bay

the green, marine, and robin’s egg

and even mixed with bitter grey

i love you more than i can say

—-

the better than the better is

the trade you trade for knowledges

the mix you mix with sour grapes

(however long that it will take)

to clarify or to begin

to find out where to follow him

–

dog with a bone

all alone

watch her run

watch her roam

mom’s not home

chew the bone

watch her

as she checks her phone

—--

create the world!

enjoy its light!

ignite your flame

to rule its night!

escape the bed, the frame, the trite

and fight the forest with a knife!

—-----

Juliet, 25

sees the ways her lover lied.

—--

i know you

perfect blue

perfect dawn

perfect you

keep me warm

keep me true

perfect love

perfect blue

—--

eye of the needle

watching over me

feverings and visions

tongue stitches

taking lashes

bearing new fruit

—--

hello the halfmoon

that grows when it splits

hello the hart

that the hunter will miss

hello to apemen

picking up tools

hello to apricot

mixed in the gruel

—--

lung splitter

back snapper

gut ripper

leg cracker

little creature

growing old

can you fit

a better mold?

—--

net cast the fish float adrift to be pulled in might be relief

—--

one fine december morning

skies dark, the train is empty

closed circuit captured, strutting

tall man inspects his weapon