there are days
             that I fly out the
                             top of my head

and float above
                            the world
                            in the stillness
                            of space

-watching my body move,
                              and talk,
                              and feel

and all the little people
around are doing
much the same

and

they think
they
are
alone

while millions are without power on the east coast
and ocean waters rise high with the rage of nature,
nobody named Sandy bothers me here-
safe and serene in the Midwest, my home

no waters have risen to challenge me,
and no ghouls have come knocking
at my door, though it be Hallows Eve

no fairies have come to take me away
no children or beggars have showed up
to accept my offerings and
free a soul from purgatory

I have lit no fires,
I have butchered no cattle
And I certainly have not
tried to raise departed spirits

the only vestige of Samhain so far
is the thought, a simple remembrance
of the way things used to be
in the pagan myths
with their reverence for the dead

o, the dead have been here, yes
-imitations of them at least
littered on my TV screen
like bloodied tin cans in the street

this is how I revere the dead,
by watching remakes of old
slasher movies, directed by zombies

in them I find masks and screaming
-lots of blood and nonsense
and not one mention
of the way things used to be

Begins foot tall grip-

mountain brain to it
       of and tall his shapes
crumble in poison operation
        from bend and strangle
mountain to bones

strangle and operation
                        from **** foot underpass groans

                         begins

They smoke wide legs city and tall the streets
Delivering the cold grip-
                                             and bend
                               crumble in of his tall bones
                               the foot with on blood

blood highways and
all of concrete smoke

They with on center
Oversees poison

My multitudinous dreams,
cold to years-
map their unreality

front of and show to buzzsaws
realize communication as screams them,
                        know you chaos so the curse breaking the to
and up you grind face, yours, face, your glass that conversational
we to a my contained them

anyone who look is a show bending thoughts
              break snarls buzzsaws and dust
     and the anyone who in tail-whipping
              wake tail-whipping into machines
made flow in grind calm, the us-

front of lips explodes from and look is a I
              I you bending calm, quality shake the circuits
              that time I'll between front of mechanical machine
from machine thoughts break we and hinge them
grind the calm,
                               being that apologize the face,

apologize the in I is a snarls time them air face,
              its you still, in in outshine the descends
              and face wind being we us-

front of dust and wind show my
to a the and explodes from look in in being same .

saying clock, me your moments got light-filled in
            and descends machine mechanical eye eye

Tarmac dreams of wheels
  
        spinning round a pine tree

Roadside buzzards pick the skin
      from the city and my eyes
                        
                       are burnt again

Every eagle has a hidden feather
                  and every fallacy a
                            hidden truth
                            
                           skin deep

and we beg the totem not
                           to show it

Flowers burst in the sun
exploding with dynamite
                               determination

They speak on swollen tongues

and my eyes are burnt again

You came and turned me
      on end
            
            emptying the cup
            of its contents

Let me weep my
      sunshine saltwater
      tears on your beach

Hold my glass heart
   in your hands and
     fill me with wine
       and honey

                 If only I could put
                     my lips to you

Ever drop of dew would be
                     a new soul

I would bathe in your
    river, the only place
    to wash
                   these ashes
    from my body and
                     face

And when I look through
                  to you is when
Eternity
    begins and ends

These banks are my friends
    but I just might jump in,
    let the tide take me out
    
And let your love draw
    the blood to my skin

You came and turned me
on end,
              my head under-
              water, I found
              myself holding
              
my       breath
              
     while   holding
              
           your     hand

gypsy pack
of seagulls
   set up their
   winged city
   on the surface
   of the water

the lights of the city
are replaced
by two
   thousand

black holes
of birds eyes

and the snow feathers
of squawking multitudes

later- darkness falls
the gulls set
no fires

all that can be heard
on shore is the chatter
of birds
               talking
                in their sleep

Moonshine drunk-
Water's skin dances
to Wind's song

Here I lie-
  
        A corpse
        with a mouth full
         of jewels

I can say nothing
   about what is really
        important

Listen to the flies as
   they surround me,

They eat from my hand
   and are never
   poor or lonely for
      they dine on my
      secrets, and sing
      of my life

With sunshine
trapped forever
in my diamond
                 tooth, I will
                 tell you
                 how to
         never be poor
         or lonely

But I can say
nothing about
what is really
       important

I’ve roamed these halls
for a thousand years

       With only the company
of silence and shifting walls

My dreams and demons come
to life before me

And now I face their
unreality-
                
                  Is this
a prison or a purpose?

    I travel on in uncertainty
the cold stone floor lends no
warmth and I expect from
it no sympathy-
                  
                           My map is
meaningless, but I travel on

I’ve roamed these halls
a thousand years with only
the echoes of ghosts to keep
me company-
                    
                   I journey to and
from the heart- From black
to white, with
               the multitudinous
                grays in between

My map is meaningless
but I travel on

my face falls apart in front
of yours, mechanical lips failing
to communicate-
                      
                      buzzsaws from my
mouth flow out to cut through

suspended in time
   you look so calm, contained
   but I know that your mind
   screams

   in its glass dome, it sees-
just as mine snarls and explodes
from its container,
            
             tail-whipping the truth of
gear-teeth bending and breaking


the machine descends into

a chaos

so complete that anyone

who sees

is never the same

.

saying goodbye to
a face, we realize
communication is
a clock, falling apart

metal moments hinge on
the open air between us-
   we curse and apologize

the wind in my sails got too strong
and my heart,
afraid of being discovered,

burst into pieces
of conversational quality

shake loose the circuits
that outshine
the electricity
of your thoughts
break them,
    
   grind them into dust
and wake up to new machines
made in light-filled factories

be still,
   i will look you
           in the eye

   and if you show me
your face,
                   I'll show
                   you mine

For a while, my spirit
rebelled against my body

(Was it not the temple you expected?)

In that time, my spirit
sat in silence
and stared at itself-
in revelation or vanity,
I'm not sure which,

but I do know that
purity of spirit is not
what determines the happiness
of a bound human soul

It is not escape that I seek now
but immersion

For a while I was pure and bored,
now I drink, and I smoke
I say yes to love
and I am happy

All alone
we speak
and act
in droves

Black dots
on the page
forming
a newspaper
cutout image

Do not listen
     to my words
                 or
     riotous prophecies
     of a world on fire
                             
                             I­ am
      the son of Cassandra,
                a shining bird
           not to be believed

If I am to tell you that I
see the monsters of our
     suppressed dreams
    come to bathe us
            in flame

Heed not a word
            of it

For the gods have
   declared me a liar
and I am not allowed
          to tell the truth

Only to give short
    flights of fancy
              with which
    you may entertain
               yourself

If I am to tell you that I
     see the worlds cities
in peace - Prepare for
                  the worst

      For I am the son
           of Cassandra,
          a shining bird
       not to be believed

I've got enough wax rhetoric
to fill a pail
      and then
            fill it again

with ideas, words

& cheap inconsequential

         garbage

                 Shall I paint it
                 and call it
                 shiny new?

I'll call it lawn trimmings
      to the jungle
I'll call it house cats
      to the lion

It's a small word
in a small world
  
   - But fate has a way
       of magnifying these
         types of things -

Call it a misadventure

Starving,
                call them
                 hungry ants
                 to climb your leg
                 and all you want is
  
                 to lie down and forget

The   sting  
                   is   like  
                                 raindrops

Gray mountain concrete
       elephant underpass
groans on six foot wide
legs
      
       bones of steel
       re-bar bend and break

As it all begins to crumble
in the cold November sun

Leviathan highways
   strangle the hills
      with cold grip- They
            spill steel and smoke
       blood on the city streets

Delivering poison
     to your door

Robot brain control center
Oversees the operation
from tall towers
        geometric shapes
          
        Obelisks & Skyscrapers

Father Culture thinks with
                                   his ****

Fire

         has overtaken the town

and now
bangs on your door

         Demanding recognition

Come play us a tune
       as the world burns

Come play in the wicked
streets and sing with
                      the children

Who have
                  run away from
                       their homes

Who don't weep, for
when they left they
were either very angry
          
                   Or on fire

What good is a smile
      in these times?

Can it slow the flames
   that lick at your door?

Can it bring us rain
    to save our lives?

Oh, to make something
out of nothing, with
my mind of aether
and my body of
           subtle confusions

If left in water
I would dissolve
Sugar cube sweet
into every waiting
           corner

A wet death until
my tomb evaporates
and leaves me crystallized
at the bottom of my porcelain
                    brain bowl
for some beast to come
and lick me up

   I will fuel his fate-
His bones and skin living
     the end product of
              my life

The end of precious little
      and your everyday
             sort of nothing

She lifted the limp
wing of the crane

gingerly          Fallen
some days earlier,  it

had   been   fighting. Fighting
some  unknown  enemy  that  
can only be known to the rest
of  us  as  pain,  the  universal

enemy and binder of souls. Today
the crane stopped fighting. Finally
overcome   in   his    losing   battle
against broken wings, our story's

broken heart. As Viola sat by the fallen
bird,  she  sighed-  Not  the  sigh of the
broken-hearted,   but  the  sigh  of  the
sigh  of the  black bird  that  sits at the

edge of the battlefield
and   grows     weary
of the sight  of death

All things beautiful,
she  decided,  must
die along  with the
ugly   and   reviled

This great separator,
death,  unites us  all

The ship is sinking
but we still smile
at the sun
    
      We still laugh
even when the wind
   isn't at our backs

We know the storm
will rise bubbling
from the sea
(it will loathe
the day it meets me)

The ship is sinking
but we still smile
at the sun, knowing
that better days will come

We know someday
      the wind will fail,
    
        But we still
                            sail

I am home
this blood and
flesh my vehicle
my temple

Move me past what
my eyes discern
to be (w)hol(l)y illusion

  My
     terminal
          is truth

Shining
         Luminescent
                     Undeniability

      A home among
                          the stars

Darkened, we walk
   a wheat road
to unraveled destiny

    We who have loved
      and suffered
    We who have become
       these mirrors
        
                  Broken
         under the weight
        of axles burdened

Similar smiles and
shining teeth say
                       this
  
                      It can't be
                                        far off now
Look to the horizon
    for broken promises
and side to side
    for the real show

We know the path
   we walk is a
downhill tumble
       but the air is still
       and the earth
             it rumbles

I     am     made      weak      and
       irresolute    by    these    floating
          cloud memories

when the right
wind   blows   in   my  direction
   it   brings   your   scent   with it
      
       and    my     mind    travels     a
       thousand     miles     into      the
       past  

to   be   alone   with   you
in   that   room   with    strange
air  

and   a   box   of  car crash
                                     treasures

I thought you were love

          a guess, based on the
          way you stood without fear
          and fed me mushrooms
     in the laundry room

     a chase ensued, I followed you to
     the corner to buy some cigarettes
     making sure I didn't so much as
           think about the hounds

I averted my eyes, heard a sweet
     sad song for a moment
     and when I looked up
     you were holding up the
                                 heavens

I could love this
I do love this
Maybe it was a sign
Or maybe it was the fungus

The post-man walks dutifully
from door to door
knocking first at
the worn front doors
      white paint peeling

Since no one is home
[no one is ever home]
he drops a note through
the mail slot, handwritten
   in sloppy cursive, it reads

            "I know the message came
             late and you've flown away,
             but if ever you think to come
             back to your old life,
                                           think again"

He does this at each and every
door on this side of the block

and when he reaches the end
      he crosses the street and
                                       does it
                                           again

Took a short walk
       after nightfall
while the pavement was still
warm to the touch

The moon was calling my name
and so I walked until
I could see her face
             Radiant among
                          the stars

      She wore a dress the
color of muted sunshine
      in place of her usual
                              silver
and
       when
                  I
                     saw her there
                     smiling down
                     on             me
                     so  full  of the
                     joys            of
                     eternal youth
                     and   twilight
                             journeys,

      I sailed up to the stars
      and became  the  sun
      waiting ,   with     my
      eyes         on          her

The people below watch us
dance
and catch rides on shooting
        stars to be closer to our
              disco ball reception
              
              The stars in the night sky,
                                  our honeymoon

I live in the arms
      of a goddess

My nose pressed into
      an ancient book

I find her here
and try to become her lover

      I try to become the only
      god worthy of loving
      the living image of this
      goddess

All seems like a dream
when I find myself near her
      flowing river hair and her
      golden skin that kings
      would **** for

Her voice rings through the
ether, telling me the ephemeral
       truth of the matter

It's all one big
                       sweet nothing

And I'm fine with nothing
       as long as I can spend
       this no-thing and no-time
       bewildered in her presence

I find her here
       in the twilight
       between worlds

At sunset    
                    and
                                 galaxy rise

I sit

      in a dead garden



Withered gray stalks

      break under the weight

      of life and death



A corpse, technically more complete

as it has already arrived

      at its destination



Smoke rises

from this lifeless

      place, it suffers no

      illusion, it has seen life

     and now it sees beyond



Dead ants in a dead anthill

     used to be so active

              now they rest where

              they are, now they turn

                                to dust



The butterfly dies too

but who would really want

              to remain a caterpillar?

There are so many ghosts
      packed into this single moment

We've built this empire
      over the broken bones
         of yesterday's leaders

Our old labor force
      rests under our fort

And they all want to come up
      to the top and
         roam these city streets

They want to see
      through your eyes

Taste with your tongue

And
       Feel with your skin

They want your life

           Realize,
                        You're dead inside

In the sense that
a whole universe of stars
       plants,      animals     and     lovers
          had to die to get you
          where you are

Do you remember
        how badly you wanted this life
            when you were on the other side?

And what is it to you now,
        just a new way to waste some time?

           Realize,
                        You're dead inside

The road to the present has been paved in endless romances and heartbreaks

This idea of love has kept all of the actors motivated throughout

Though it rarely shows its true face to those involved

The face keeps changing but one thing is certain:

They can't keep their eyes off each other

Their motives have made sense to them long enough, at least

To bring new life into the world

Yes, it does seem to be an **** from afar-

Countless lovers intertwined

Paired together in fleeting moments of ecstasy

The weight of all creation is on their shoulders

But they don't feel it

Because all is as it should be

In all of these romances, heartbreaks

and orgiastic expressions

Is a fragment of the whole of this

Endless love affair.

I would be content



      to make it to



      my dying day



successfully-       and emerge



                               to find out,



                                      much to my surprise-



                        That nothing at all



                                      had changed

We are the destroyers



We are what you fear



We come to give you hope

      and let you know

                  the end is near



The end of separation



The end of what you fear



We have come to show you love



We come because the end is near





                  

*Song of The Reaping:

"Me and my girl are gonna bring in the new age

Me and my girl are gonna break down the wall

Me and my girl are gonna dance through destruction

                                               and laugh as ashes fall"

"We'll die together" says Pandora



"Our fates have been intertwined" I tell my Kalika



She screams and stomps the floor in

                                        ecstatic dance



Our love marks the beginning of the end

She had dead eyes



                   not inert



but     beyond     life



A hunger drove

her           stare



A    fire    burned

hotly underneath

She would do anything in her power

to    exert    her   will    over   death



                  She screamed

                               and wailed

                                      and moaned

                              as she danced



She stared through me

with those     black

                                 burning eyes



and smiled

                  when I put my hand

                       on her hip



She smiles as she burns this world away

Our love marks the beginning of the end

I held hands with Pandora

as I opened up the box



We destroyed everything we loved

but it could have been worse..

                   I could have died alone

This is the future



We hold the world



       in our hands





The truth bites us



       in the third eye





And leaves



      a bittersweet taste



                in our mouth





There's no beauty



       When you're not around

Stone Arch Bridge

Dreams and sings

above the constantly

flowing water


Downstream

Always downstream

I walk slowly

and look at scars

from past lovers


"It was so good to be in love with you"

back when we knew who we were


Names come and go

but Love Lives Forever

And so I went to bed
Full--  Like a dozen lips or so
At sunset

Life floats

     and Love flies

Between the uninhabited spaces



An empty cellar

Protected by an old wooden                  

       door



Dust-- I smell lighting

       in the air



        Return to me

        Return with your

        shining eyes and your

        empty head



Another love flashes by in

the narrow sunbeam

      and now it seems

      I've spent an eternity

      searching

                      for that spark



      An eternity

          in Love

I lie on my back-

    Girls walk around

                   taking pictures

    they say that the lighting

       makes them feel funny



The river water rushes

     swiftly and silently

             over the dam

and a scrolling marquee informs me that

TIME STANDS STILL

                                    . . . COMING SOON



I'm talking to you on the phone-

My senses tell me that you're far away

          but my spirit knows you're here...



You were here once

You must be here now



Ahh yes, of course-



You are still here

but you have changed form



Now you are three girls

              takng pictures

And one boy scribbling

               in a notebook



Your body has changed

to a skyline and a raging river



I can see everything from here-

I know just where I want to go

        but I can't go there yet...



It's going to take a little bit of time-

                    But if time stands still

                             How do I get to you?



The girls are holding up a white sheet

and the model girl is changing behind it

and I can hear her slippind out of her clothes



Some older ladies have entered the frame-

They hold a paper doll in front of a camera

                 and take pictures of it

against the yellow tinted windows



The girls are leaving-

They say that when they get outside

they're going to be like



"Woah... What is color?"



And I hope they're wrong

because everyone deserves

             to see these colors



Miniature people ride minature bicycles

across a miniature bridge that spans

a miniature river



Time stands still