fell off a horse and rose to my feet
bruised and dismounted... my eyes chiseled
into sharp orbs.
my bandy limbs, throbbing
from the test.

II

before the fall, i was born -
on the moon.
i never broke a bone
in my eye.

I

****** fire
   Scattered with
salt of sacred youth
  
   Split & dislocation, your empire light
          (A memory/reproached by vines)

          Replaced by hills of small cosmic stones
formed like a scream in the sand

  Pagodas wrinkle beneath
The sunset's ardent temper
                   (nobody can escape the smoke)

Mothers give up their daughters

Heroes are marked by volcanic glaciers

Anthills are suffocated softly and without sound

Death has taken up other hobbies

Cheeks resemble the shade of a dream

I am greeted by your wolf of absence
it's hairs are thick and knotted

whimpering
(a shadow)
of what it once was

The toothroot maw of distant islands
tremble as a foreign vessel
curves around the bend of florid pine

Sails be blessed
              & branded with
                     symbols of balance
                    
Islands echoing polyrythm

    (Small stone houses, ritualistic, romanced by careful horns)

The old are tempted by decorative
horses crafted of leaves which dance and
enliven
                 the warming sea
                
Ladies dressed in Batik patterns
     carve quietly at shopsigns to capture their stale glow
    
I realize now the black underbelly of May

I see
Performances of it's ancient verse in all
who bear children

     All who practice with the weapons of abuse
          & the perfumes of mortal love

In thought
and acknowledgment

(Accompanied by tenderness & pull of lavender in a basket)

II

I have been taught to no longer fear alive

(alive) at the will of taxicabs

Of eyes which haunt the heart/

   (tears)
            
  The strangeness of
  mental carousels/
              
Rapid entanglement/
          
(death)
  
          Palaces conjured by the Sun/
          
Basement conversation/

Iron candy that worships your body/

/////

An ever present sound of black
        
           The black of love &

  nightfall in yearning

Where the Northern sky
dies with adoration,
swallowed by an
orchard's olive skin

       (A wine for exchanging poetry)

& like a static Summer unrehearsed with cathedral orchestrals

Or willow's wind flowing in through my bedroom

I will miss the black animal's fur,
of the silk you covered me with
in my sleep

(midnight shelter)

III

Lamenting with another woman
for another time
devoted yet fractured

A landscape scar
for Springs Bengal hunger

paused
on a door as wide as the mirrored
cavern where promises were forged &
betrayed,

what happened to the Tsunami which drowned your past?

IV

On the truth of time gone by
I wake with the burden of
every season
& you remain even still

You are the day's end

shut doors closed windows hiding
play the music loud enough
only I hear it

going out for
only essentials
like flour and oil

cigarettes
beer and kitty
kibbles

shut-in by my own choices decisions
say nothing all day
just watch

how the web
in the corner
has grown  a foot

down farther into more
of the room nearing
the windowsill

now

the ashtray overflows
the black plastic bag
comprising

my day to day
spills out to reveal
all my decadence

but my mind calm sane
I see, must  be a tinge
of madness

in it, isn't seeking
or talking to corners or zephyrs
or back at the tv

just sitting here like the spider
in the corner
of a room

that needs painting
and a lot of bleach
to remove

this deadness
and the flies
bothering

He was catatonic, paralyzed, amputated and lazy
But the fate of Schrödinger's cat was driving him ******* crazy

grown from the amazements of tender years
playing sandbox barefoot innocence to
physiques capable of reproducing
desires changed along that course
we grew in stature
sometimes remorse
all along that fruitful way
the one thing that remains is you
that five year old full
of mysteries and thrills
of new senses touches sights
that seem to get harder to find
as the years go on unwinding
from our given spool
it seems comes
a movie forseen
when you look back
into that myst you once were
not knowing
exactly when
it was you changed
grew into today
had the senses to look back
sitting now alone
in your editing room

from bumping uglies to
changing diapers warming formula
to cleaning *****
watching every move
the evolution
of shaking the tree of life
to see what fruit falls
out
to making sure they have apples
or oranges along with cheese
sandwiches a bit of chocolate
in their pail as they board that bus
going off to adolescence
where the latest shoes become a two hundred dollar
necessity
the latest Apple phone or I-pad or drone
then prom night and it is all going so fast until
you find that letter they send on Father's day or your Birthday
saying how good their life is
and you smile
knowing that is how the circle comes around
and then next thing you know
the grandchildren are here
and your wrinkles and double chin grin
with pride
finally realizing
what it is all
about, as they leave two babies with you
on their date night. And you are happy as all get out!