i was baptized after
god had given me
reason and sight,
thought and perspective,

unlike the babes we give
bombastic destiny shortly
after birth

i had a priest
chewed tobacco
spit it in a coca cola can
i stared in disbelief
he handed me a bible
“you tell me where in there
it says I can’t chew”

the me now, wishes the me then,
would’ve handed the book back
and asked;

“why are all the writers men?
do women know nothing of god?”

that priest was defrocked
his wife, mother of five,
found the skin and liquor
of another man alluring

the archdiocese
frowns on these things,
chewing aside

i had a bishop
he ordained me
blessed me subdeacon
i lit his robe on fire,
on accident
he forgave me,

then he disappeared from his post,
according to more blessed folks,
he’d been teaching faith askew,
church dogma was fed to the dogs,
the wine and bread to humans
trying to survive with
dignity

his church name was
bishop innocent
ironic, i know

i dreamed of priestly robes too,
a liturgy to the masses
delivered with rapture and passion
thought i’d turn the tide
make a difference
for god, for good

then god died
in a room of hypocrisy
full of self-important men

what excuses have we conjured?
for war?
for violence?
for power? For
white over black?
white over brown?
white over yellow?
male over female?

other than,
god willed it? god ordained it?
the devil made me do it!
for, isn't the devil
just an angry god?

sure we say…
democracy is under threat,
freedom is under siege,
capitalism is just,
they got what they deserved,
******* will burn,
arabs are killers,
women are weak,
the poor are stupid,
men are strong

what we really mean is -
god wills it

that invisible hand
we slap each-other
around with

a  muppet,
a clown deity
we parade around,
a spiritual lawyer with
hidden fees against your soul

i was baptized after
god had given me
reason and sight,
thought and perspective

it didn’t work out so well
for god

it’s a Lincoln penny love,
a Washington dollar,
an Eisenhower dime,
or is it a Roosevelt?
a Jackson twenty,

‘what’s money?’

its the scratch, the dough,
some cheddar
fifty cent, hell bent,
greenbacks,
smackeroonies, baby

‘daddy?’

a buck darlin’,
a Hamilton,
a ***,
some Franklins,
a hole in your pocket

‘in my pocket?’

a deuce, some beans,
some jingling nickels,
rocks in the bank,
a stack in the kitchen

‘daddy, tell the truth’

its a diplomatic swindler,
an accidental cruelty
manufactured in holy casinos
called capitalism

‘I don’t know those words’

its a carrot that puts down riots,

fights, I mean,
a fortress of glitter and cyanide
we fight for and within through lonely
comas of obedience

‘let’s talk about something else’

its the mint that grew
in the temple of Juno,
goddess and protector of
the Roman state

‘I like mint’

me too

‘is money mint?’

money is minted,
so, kinda

‘but you can’t eat money
like mint
and you can't make tea’

that’s very true...

a stew of mortal
affordable gifts,
litter our lives,

tacky raining clouds
dribbling

- no -

its more like
robotic justice

we're
muzzled frantic cherries
chained to the liver
of mass media

- no -

its
hysteria, rumor, intrigue, ******
****

that’ll do...

two hundred thousand years
of this, you’d think we’d know
you reap what you sow

- no -

just clubbed fish
gawking for air
until deathly
first world bar-b-q

wine of cold lonely grapes

life on a pedestal
is sure to topple

maybe we'll eat
apples during the
fall

have we strayed far from art?
Oh, Marvell?
Oh, Donne?
Oh, Jonson? And
sometime Wyatt?

forgive these modern
fornicating gluttonous
whirl of words.

pastoral shepherds are dead,
old friends

sultry sweet snatches
to sing of and dampen your quill,
mossy memories

those pining poets deflowering tulips
with their multi-lingual similes,
have been shot for their vague
caresses

mowers now grip their
flaccid scythes,
loitering near the iron
gates of life

forgotten and rotten are
their hot July desires

no.

no need to complain in
metered rhyme, just
give it to me straight
and hard

i'll take it all the same

we’ve traded knowing apples with
lush green mothers of cadmium
and fiberglass
veins of copper,
silver, and gold

siliconed our brains to currents
of controlled thunder

we ****** flat breasted,
hand-sized puddles of glass like
only lesbians and lonely wives
can wish for

iron our souls out
in selfies of people
we wish we were

epoxied our hearts to
shallow resins of hope

we’ve
followed polyester roads
of truth

have we forgotten the
simple flesh of carbon?

the
naked
nitrogen
of our belly buttons?

the
happy
hydrogen
of our eye lids?

the
oxygen of ******?

**** me not
with metals of progress

but with
ancient odes of
skin and calcium
teeth

i’ll take the devil of
old

over this

belligerent eyes beg wholesale
submission, blushing undress

a swanky disillusioned dream
a tacit fleshy mass of need
a fierce card of calculating
want

we’re sturdy old twigs
you and I

curvy ******* of want
are busy straws of dull
cynical fat smoke

our lives murky inventions,
you and I,
sincere but sneaky

let’s not trouble the tides
of our unarmed vessels of
love

let's forget

dazzling seed
of water and flesh
here are your toes!
hear your wail!

a shock in lopsided time

take your father's paltry
proud, untidy praise,
whisper it to your own reflection
off the river of the universe

yarn an incandescent voyage
beyond the gaudy shores of
humanities crooked beaches

between your ears sloshes
a makeshift promise of meaty
hope

fill your pockets with courage,
climb stupendous trees of ambition
and grin for luck

fill your mouth with laughter,
spit it on pointless hate
and pack a secret love for everyone

fill your skull with warlike wit,
pour it on the ******, the bitter
and stuff your soul with wildflowers

eat these words with
your heart

my hope,
my inspiration,
my child.