Fields
of my
ancestors
-stalks of
cane sugar-
surrounding

It yields
yearlong:
for the sun
-garish- in
its wake
leaves thirst
quick
to slake

She lit the past with a match.
Watched the flames lick the
walls as they danced slowly
then all at once. We'll never be
the same again that's all he said.
Collecting the ash of what was left
and taking my hand to walk over to
the river side in the dead of night. Shut
your eyes and blow the pain away in
the wild winds. This is your chance to
live again and feel your heart beat from
within. Because a beauty like you deserves
to be loved and unbroken. I'll mend your
chest stitch up that precious heart of yours.
And fill the cracks of your bones with
nothing but the purest kind of love. We'll
never be the same again he said as he leaned
down and kissed her forehead. I'll make sure
you never experience anything bad or sad like
you did before we met. Now come on darling it's
almost time for bed. Let me wrap you with my
arms of dazzling gold to keep you warm instead
of the blanket that you just burned and claimed
it dead.* ~

i was foolish to believe that when you touched my skin flowers would grow, my cheeks would blossom and my stomach would become a garden, an orchard, a plant *** on the window sil of a grandmothers kitchen, i should have knew when you touched my face my eyes would sink and my lips turn grey, my stomach would cave in, my ribs make an appearance, my mouth go dry and my legs to become laden with white lines

Before me lies a mass of shapeless days,
Unseparated atoms, and I must
Sort them apart and live them. Sifted dust
Covers the formless heap. Reprieves, delays,
There are none, ever. As a monk who prays
The sliding beads asunder, so I ******
Each tasteless particle aside, and just
Begin again the task which never stays.
And I have known a glory of great suns,
When days flashed by, pulsing with joy and fire!
Drunk bubbled wine in goblets of desire,
And felt the whipped blood laughing as it runs!
Spilt is that liquor, my too hasty hand
Threw down the cup, and did not understand.

startled by the fight
in a diseased and dying body
I sit over her
looking through fogged eyes
recalling a slice of heaven
on a little tributary
of the raging Santiam –
cheek high pasture weeds
brushes a five year old face
as I nearly tunnel after long tan legs
sunshine and pit bulls
a covey of quail and
the old ****** pelt drying plywood
cut in the shape of a giant stop sign
a bedded down doe crashes through an Oak thicket
as our adventure continues –
lazy afternoons of swimming in the creek
chasing tree frogs
and picking wild flowers
fill my pre pre-school memories
as I stare
and wait for her to take another breath –

Cotton sheets
on a winter’s night.

She entered the room,
her clothes fell to the floor.

’You’re on my side?’
‘I know,’ and
slid to my side
to let her skin
lie in the warmth
I left for her.

And then she
thanked me,
in cotton sheets.