I want to take a break

from my little pain

my favorite ache

is in my brain

what battered tongue

can speak my name

what battered soul

can stay the same?

There is this shambling gadget

all around me:

I stumble across switches and levers

hidden cleverly,

and this machine, in one deft lurch

hits me squarely in the face—

every time!

the riff monster

eats time and

shits musical

t

i

r

e

s for

-

(endless

limousines

god in

fetal position

with hands over eyes)

numb psyches poverty rings
        mopping the floor with my teeth
I have cleaned this room
        too many times
                        already
                                (today?)
                                        the walls are dripping with penitents
                        no with acorns
        plowing the wallpaper with my tongue
                this species grows from the mouth
        picking up the ceiling
                cant bend that far without pain
am I on the wing?

the first sign of darkness?
- -slips by- -

  didn't see it

- -and then another- -

  who can say for sure?

- -again!- -

  divinity calms my trunk of ribs,

  still there,

  clenched

- -it darkens- -

  in my

- -growing ever dimmer- -

  fingernails

- -as the night takes hold
 of

violet breezes;

dew drops chime

in the sprinkling sunshine:

what melody teases?

with jubilant caress,

languid scents stir,

while leaves whisper

about the watercress

birds in flowery flight

salute the copper sky,

with a swooping cry;

then verdantly alight

in sultry sadness

marches the day—

with golden spray—

towards its death

(against) blue winter sleep
the sky blankets frosty eyes
the chapped face of the earth
grins in its age
still
the stars come down to play
in the wrinkles of a mountain lake