My weight lifts up
As the sun rises
And the moon and stars hide
Beneath the blanket of light

Honorable mention
Standing ovation
Hands clapping
Congratulations

Loud noise penetrates the air
Static electrifies my hair
Surfing couches on a wave
Of homelessness and "bah, humbugs!"

Clever critters creep crawling covertly
Across the room, I see my face
Peering curiously like a child's
At something new, born into a world

Of nuclear reactions and hummingbirds
Of postulants and female circumcision
Of fried turkey and wrapped gifts
I am the divining rod of this family

Sun peeks around the clouds
As the clock counts down my every breath
This staircase reeks of death
He was the walrus, hunted like prey.

On the coast
In a pickup truck
We made a toast
To unfortunate luck

You traced my hips
Whispering my name
With those chalked lips
A shiver ran up my frame

You held me there
Where land kisses sea
On a blue sphere
You fell for me

More and more you build
temples of stone.
Everywhere,
hewing rocks of the earth,
you set about your project:
But,
do you see -
that small bit of rock
would be enough, more
effective for Me to manifest,
all of a fist’s size,
this your hardened heart?

A widow bird sate mourning for her Love
Upon a wintry bough;
The frozen wind crept on above,
The freezing stream below.

There was no leaf upon the forest bare,
No flower upon the ground,
And little motion in the air
Except the mill-wheel’s sound.

Hush, lullay.

Your treasures all

Encrust with rust,

Your trinket pleasures fall

        To dust.



Beneath the sapphire arch,

Upon the grassy floor,

Is nothing more

        To hold,

And play is over-old.

Your eyes

        In sleepy fever gleam,

Their lids droop

        To their dream.

You wander late alone,

The flesh frets on the bone,

Your love fails in your breast,

Here is the pillow.

Rest.

so that when you’re young
so that the sky is falling
so that you tell the moon goodnight
so that a moose can have a muffin
so that the giving tree
so that the hungry caterpillar can eat all the leaves and turn into a beautiful butterfly
so that brown bear, brown bear
so that the sidewalk ends
so that, will there be enough room? Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!
so that Corduroy can have a home
so that the little engine could
so that Harold could draw with the purple crayon
so that you can give a pig a pancake
so that wishbone
so that the rainbow fish learns to share
so that the cow jumps over the moon
so that you can go where the wild things are
so that your imagination soars
so that when you’re young
you read for your soul’s pleasure.

Our world cannot stand still
when early morning silence only invites
remnants of thrashing nights to play
across lashes like dewdrops, a face like rain

I have witnesses similar shadows on the
moon, just as distant and untouchable, just
as hard to swallow in the fresh air, the
blank stare of post-understanding where we
don't try anymore

Our world cannot stand still.
     It's running itself raw.

The girl
                 sitting across my table
                 holding a strawberry
                                    tenderly
         ­                                      between
                                    her pursed lips,

                                    has her wanton eyes
                                    resting on mine.
            
                                   **I taste strawberry in my mouth.