there is a list to drum by:

father,
mother,
sister,
brother,

the son who died is he forgiven?
the father who survived is surely not.

sitting quietly in a boat
fishing reluctantly
casting my rod
accidentally
to the bottom
of the lake

our guide
a nations pride
holds his breath
then bursts out laughing

my father rises
spits bits and flicks
his stub

glimmering light
thuds as it laps
against a hollow bow

we are drifting now

american bound.

[they say the meek shall inherit the earth]

those *******
no one tells me anything
so no one owes me nuthin'

when living means dying
when dying means I told you so
when a letter arrives (too late)
when a boy no longer fits in his grave
when someone dies
and still wants love

defending myself
by yawning (as if shouting who me?)

afraid of people
or fighting for myself
or smoking grass

but having hatred
baring teeth
biting my thumb (and looking at the marks after)
striking my brother (with a hockey stick)

running off a neighbor's lawn
its ***** -  too fast down and breaking a collar bone
proof gone.

still biting my thumb (and looking at the marks later)

yelling **** the the rich
and bury them with those who live outside themselves

who wear me out
who wet in commercials
transmitting their cleanliness
into our homes

they can no longer stand their filth

they smile as they **** on us

the little people

turning to face me
he dares me
to make eye contact

clenching his fist
grinding his teeth
he sputters

you middle class smurf
I don't owe you jack!

here come the warm jests
here they come droogie

gently smiling
level headed
laughing loudly
heaven scented

being warm they are gentry
being strung-landed
they are like a bad drug
like a bed bug
they don't even like jests

still, bring 'em on
young and all
like infant children
draining *******
too hard to reach each
too hard to touch much

some of them are us
some of them are
just in the way

leave them then
more for us

that's a good question
do I write it out first?

glasses that are cheap
fold into plastic

by the time it takes -
a train passes

hurried enough to find it
I can't locate my keys

lost in a tunnel to save
Time

I've seen fish swim underwater
and turtle heads peek over
and smelled leaf mildew
under blue tarp's dew.

I've sat watching my mother
knitting-in-the-round
as she watched TV
buxom and warm
(whose warm embraces)
won and lost my father
who accepted having children - not his (or hers)
raised them, fed them, sent them to school
and in the end
left.

I listened to punk
and tried to drum to it
then watched TV
and slept on the couch
and woke in a sweat
and kept my head down
and fell into bed.

just like my dad
who ate with us
then drank enough to fall asleep
sitting in his La-Z-boy
head bent to chin
half smoked cigar, half ash, half a glass  

someone who knows him
can't explain.

I love my wife
and see her
and really see who she is
who when her father died
my friend too
knowing his soul was alive
placed the phone by his side
for me to say goodbye

and that was really the kindest
thing a person could do - has done
it is her love that saves me.

and in the wing
and on the shore
and in the plains
where Indians store
the living pines as tall as mine
lifting birches - children's lashes
lay running away
towards me in the dark.