wish upon
a red
paper plane
on a dock
by
the river

i pray
to be
a fish instead
swimming                                 endless
and forever.


---


wish upon
the orange
float glass
on the old
and crumbling
jetty

i pray
to be
a rotting
             tree
feeling
numb and
dumb and
                                           dry—

why shoot the cartoon bird
why nip the buds
why shoot the kids
why trap the self-amused boy

he goes to Church five times a day




beat the bad dog
                                                bad bad dog with the blue collar
                                         the bad bad dog
                                         the  big bad dog
till he weeps watercolour

praise the dog
who picks up fragments
of yourself
as you walk dead
                   dead
         dead                     very dead
among your fellow zombies

swim awayswim away


paper tyger
burning bright
in the forests
of the night
caught in
screens of
black
forest trees
paper tyger
burn
the night

swimaway swim away

paper tyger
burning bright
in the forests
of the night
burn
the woods
burn
the woods down
burn it all
but keep me
alive
keep me alive

keep me
alive
i will eat
the moss
out of
your sinews

keep me
a life
living off
of stardust
and of mildew

keep me
keep me

embers flicker
embers flicker
i will eat
the ashes
of your
heart

burn it all
burn it all down
don't let me
fade away

paper tyger
burning bright
in the forests
of the night
fill the sky
fill the sky
with glories
from your
lanterns
burn the night
burn the light
paper tyger
burning bright

swim away swimaway

Watching sunset
Watching  lu rid nes s
Watching the blue fall
like dew on grass
or the other way round.

-

Watching small insects
Watching them circle
around and around
the farmer's son's head
because he is
an angel
where holiness and
immaculacy
is a halo of Gnats.

-

Watching leaves
Watching leaves rustle
like old maidens
and lace veils,
chanting and chanting
chanting forgiveness
And stout little
red candles
Lined up like

             a procession
                an offering
                   a sacrifice

They rustle
They sing songs
in languages too
daedal for the
finite understanding
Because language
is but a bit
of the more
  v   a   s   t      imagery.

-

Watching hands
Watching hands
with old worn skin
like an old worn sweater
that used to be warm.

-

Watching hands work
as blue veins pop against
papery brown skin
They used to hide
the life and now they
are draining the light from
eyes squinted against the
glare of the morning.

-

Watching flowers
Watching flowers wilt
Someone forgot to
take the hose one
late morning maybe
because they’re gone
or out The latter
is a wish.



                   _____

All of these are
but fond memories
in a house next
to a field of
corn and rye
I used to think
That maybe
someday
I would come to like
   Living There.

gone now the
laundry basket by the
multi-color tiled bathroom half-
empty been a week now
been trying to fill it now
been trying to
not feel
empty gone

now the
cartons of milk he's allergic
to anyway,
in the fridge at the
bottom being replaced and being
tossed and
tossed again.

gone now he still
winces at the freshly laundered
sheets now
lemon-scented
lemon-scented you
but you are gone now.

---

who is going to
pester him for more tuna
more vegetables who is
going to tell him not
to water the cacti you
planted in chipped tea
cups who is going to
walk the dogs he gave away
not long ago because
no one has the love and
patience to do it anymore.

who is going to love
the lemon-scent the
scent you loved
just because of a poem
about it or a story who
knows...
who knows now
what you want
where you are how you've been...

who's gonna tell him
now not to
take the pills after
you bitter-sweet
lemon-scented good
bye.

kitchen low-light,
kitchen low-bright Kitchen;
low-spirit.
open refrigerator door,
illumination on on on
tiled floor
dull light; dull bright reflecting
your sadness.


kitchen low-light kitchen
low bright, kitchen
low; spirit
kitchen empty yogurt
cup >kitchen<
fiddling fiddling
striking the spoon
inside the hollow
(metal spoon,
against plastic cup
the blunt
DING DING DING)
'til you decide it's time
to stop playing and
throw it away.

july belongs to you,
and songbird. the wind
won't stop whistling,
shaking the trees
amidst the aftermath of
Night-storm.

look, river-and-sea. we
are all but caught in
dream after dream,
weaving parallel time-
lines and fragments
of our memories.

see, i told you.
it is what it is when
i put the book down as
you stare out into the
woods through
the ***** pane.

i want you.
i whisper breath-
lessly. summer, but not
quite. you see, believe me
when i say.

july belongs to you.

Christmas eve leftover for
breakfast before i drive us
out to Sea. On the

wharf in your doggy tiny
doggy mirror doggy eyes
i am Camera Obscura melting
blue melting one with the
sky.

Small enough, dog; small,
dog-enough so i can place
you inside my hand-cage of
crooked fingers and

red-bitten bitten red
red nails red-painted
painted red, red, red
redsoveryred red.

Let us
          
          Let us you
and

                  me;


together we~
throw ourselves
to Sea

Let us let us you and me~
you and me~
we throw ourselves we
throw, we, you and me
let us let us.



Mister Death
mister death i know
you puke out
dogs.

BLIND. a cat
in a flashflood
of head/tail lights

frozen as a
deer in the
middle of a
highway through
midnight woods;
once upon a
time
once upon
the frozen
air.

do you think
YOU know?

how does it
FEEL?
how do THEY
FEEL before
they D I e?

(do you know where i was going?
do you know where i've been?)

do you say
your names
when you pray
with lifted hands?
do you think
the rain will
wash the muck
down your body?

muck sliding down
your paperthin
skin

your candlewax sins
melting your
shell
showing the
core of
your being.

true colors.

make you feel
pure and hallow
make you feel
like a saint.
make you
feel like
you own the
world.
make you
feel like
you own
me.

find me
flat against
the road
on thick
asphalt;
find me
inside
an empty
takeaway
cup like
red unwanted
slush
rejected.

bury me
under your skin.
bury me
in the emptiness
of your mind.
bury me
in the hollows
of your sinews.
bury me.
i was
never well
half-alive, anyway.

Girls with beautiful eyes
shouldn't die but that's
the thing.

we all fade away

i

it's alright
you can sit on the moon
whenever you like
you can fish
for stars and comets
you can put them
in your pocket,
if you want
it's alright

ii

you can stay in
their flowerbox
if you want to
no one will warn you
no one will harm you
they will not
bloom without you
it's alright

iii

you can swim in
their fishbowl if
you feel like it
take it as
your own little sea
all the corals
and fishes
and mermaids
and shells that sing
and candy-coloured rocks
are yours

iv

you can build a castle
on the ocean floor
Atlantis is yours
it's alright

v

you can have all these things
and be what you want to be
it's alright
it's all right.