The tiny, black transistor, three wires,
One two three, ramrod straight get bent,
Quarter-inch strain, needle-nose pliers and it's broken.
Instructions: look, ask what "install"
Means: to bend the leads, push in, solder
Tightly and well, no crossing, to the board.

Lumps all over the green circuit board,
Yellow blue black etc., flip-side wires
Cut short, little silver domes of solder
With the leads set up just right, bent
Just right to stay in when you flip it over to install
Them so they don't fall out, but lost is better than broken.

The one transistor, Q1, J310, broken,
Lying against the also-black of the countertop, board
Loudly near, demanding, "Just install
It already, ******."  Just the two of three wires
On the Q1, last one lying lonely bent
Crying out, hollering, screaming for solder.

Look at the one straight piece of solder,
Two leads protruding from one hole, broken
Off by careless, melting hands, left stranded on the board,
Cut off from the spool, low melting point, easily bent.
It looks just like "one of the boys," the real wires.
Copper wires conduct well, very ductile and easy to install.

When you are attempting this, to install
Everything in its place (and there is one), beware excess solder;
Too much crosses from  hole to hole, uniting two wires,
Shorting it out and leaving you drifting with a broken,
Useless green hunk of circuitry and electronics (a board,
A dead board), which is just as useless as your leads which are too bent.

Some of these **** parts come pre-bent
(Why not each?), real easy to slide in and install,
Just bend slightly after sliding into the board,
Slightly enough to hold for the solder
Which is to come, assuming it's not broken
Yet, and that yours are still whole wires.

On the back, at the end, identical dots of solder
Run the length of the board.  If it's not broken,
Run a current through; see if you get a shock by the wires.

The roaring log-fire in the corner of the
Wooden hall crackles and hisses
As the story-teller strums on
On the lyre, his honeyed mellow voice
The backdrop to strings plucked and
Flames crackled as he sings
His tune, the tale of an age long ago, of
Heroes and monsters and good and evil
And black and white and adventure
And great terrible underworlds
And the end-days, and he sings so sweetly
And it hardly seems terrifying,
The end of the world and the voyage down, down, down
To the underworld where our great
And noble hero saves his true love who has died
And walks freely out with her bound in his arms
And she loves him so
And they love each other so
And he walks with her for miles and miles far and wide
And they journey together,
The journey goes on and on
Until the end-days,
When the thunder roars and God speaks and rages
And the flames grow higher
And the volcanoes erupt
And spew molten lava
And the earth shakes
And the earth splits
And fissures form, the earth groans,
The end-times are upon us,
And we tremble in fear of the retribution of the Lord
And we repent
And we cry for  mercy,
The mercy of the Lord,
The end-times have come,
And we are scared,
And we will die, we know.
But the end-times seem not scary,
No, not with the honeyed, mellow voice
Of the sweetly singing story-teller
In the mead-hall with the great
Roaring crackling fire, bastion of
Warmth in the corner, an anchor to this world that is not ending.

Classic bier pose: eyes closed, arms folded over chest, everything aligned perfectly.
Peaceful, opposite of the turmoil in everyone around you.
You never did think about others at all.

In the flames I can see your body still.
Peaceful pose: gone.
Now: contortionist.
Eight-year-old Chinese gymnast,
perfect 10 I’d say, but perhaps I’m biased.
Over there the judge says 7.99;
stingy, just call it 8 even (or put the taxes in the **** score).
I think it was the stress of the audit.

That’s why your wife left,
the audit.  And the hookers, you ***** *******.
I’d **** on your pyre,
but all the alcohol would catch it on fire
and send it racing up to light ME,
instead of one of your nasty cigarettes.

Tax evasion, lying
(eight, count ‘em, eight dependents:
birds #s 1, 2, 3 (bird feeder pays for itself this way, don’t it?),
chipmunk, dog, the mouse in the cellar,
bird number 4 (only in the summer, not domesticated),
even the random fox), you name it.
How did you run that for so long?

Hero’s funeral, the great pyre, a pile of ashes.
Something a chimney sweep would leave,
and about as important.  Did they ever find
cause of death—the wife?

Good, I helped her.
She needed a shoulder to cry on after you died,
and you sure as hell weren’t there (typical).

A pile of ashes,
ashes to ashes, etc., n’est-ce pas?

Leaning against the red brick wall,
feet pressed on the cobblestones,
filthy fingers holding lit cigarettes,
probably bought from the Exxon around the corner.
Tight, ripped jeans; worn, faded jackets;
hands caked with mud and dirt, washed
probably two weeks ago, maybe longer; and ashtray
mouths.  “Y’all want tickets, or you just gonna stand there?”
I ask.  A couple shake their heads,
long, greasy hair swaying slightly,
their faces illuminated only by cigarette glows,
hidden from the city lights by hair shadow.

The light from the TV flickers
against the wall.  I spin my chair
around to face the window,
the streets below barely wetted by a just-begun drizzle,
with the people hurrying back and forth,
disturbed by the new shower
like an anthill when poked with a stick.
Umbrellas have appeared
as if from nowhere—most black,
but some individuality can be seen
in the brilliant yellow few,
dashing from cab to bar
or club as the night begins.

Beyond all this, I say, the wish to be alone;
I watch them from above, peach in hand.

Lightning flashes white, as bright
as the pinkorange neon signs over dingy clubfronts, as bright
as the off-and-on blue lights from the squad cars
with wailing sirens, rolling up
next to angrily gesturing 20-somethings,
looking confused with the flashlight in their stupid eyes,
looking to get violent and into the car.

I sit here, safe above it all, away from jail,
from fights, from black eyes and ER visits.  I sit here
alone, watching the ants scurry on the ground
at one and two and three o’clock,
rushing to regrettable, forgettable one night stands.

I.
Your mother sits hunched over the oak table,
hair tight up in a bun and
shawl wrapped over her shoulders and
wrinkles give a dignified, sure-looking appearance
to a face that shows steady, steady
weathering of any and everything life
could throw at her.  You place down
a mug, two mugs of something
and you seat yourself down across
from her, tidying your long skirt, and

you take a sip.  The steam rises
past your unlined face and disappears
in front of the thicker-at-the-bottom single-pane window
set between the wall-logs.
Outside is white:
white trees,
white ground,
white grill,
white porch.
She sighs and sips the mug,
a heavy, old-style clay mug that’s
been in the house for you don’t know how long.  She sighs and
looks out the window and
sighs again.  You frown a frown of concern,

lips turned down and eyes doe-like,
cocking your head and
reaching out your arm and
patting her on the shoulder, as she
slumps down farther, face almost
in the mug.  Steam would fog up her imaginary glasses.
The shawl droops forward
and a corner dips into the mug;
so you pinch it between
your thumb and index finger,
and you gently lift it out, dripping.  She sighs and
slowly takes a sip from the mug
again.  You stand and walk

out of the room, gone for a minute,
as your mother doesn’t move,
as your mother makes no move;
she sits and sighs and slumps and sips,
once or twice,
before you return,
tidying your long skirt and
sliding forward the chair and
moving your lips, mumbling something,
sympathies, something comforting,
as your mother stares blankly
at your ******* and makes no reply.
Your face makes that frown,
and you sip again and
get back up,

walk around the table,
the heavy oak table,
and take her by the shoulders,
gently, so gently, and lift,
gently, so gently.  She stands slowly,
shuffling away with you, out of the room,
leaving the still steaming empty
clay mugs on the table.

II.
The snow-covered pyramid of lumber
and the stone-built heavy
chimney exhaling smoke bring back
the memories of winter—
reminder that yes, (yes,) it is winter, that
winter is here with the snow and
the cold and everything that that entails—
runny noses and cold nose-tips and shivering,
heavy parkas and furry hoods,
no birds and empty
tree-limbs.  The only heat
the heat of the fireplace,
roaring fire of formerly snow-covered logs from out back,
trekked in with heavy brown boots,
crunch crunch though the crisp
upper layer of snow, hot cider
or chocolate or tea or coffee
that (if it doesn’t burn your tongue)
warms you up inside out, warm fuzzy
feeling in the tummy, toes warmed
by thick wool socks.  Childhood
makes for a good winter,
sliding down hills on metal trash lids,
dodging trees before hitting the bottom and
plunging into a snowbank, laughing and
getting back up to go again.
But now your job is to shovel,
is not to have fun,
is to take care of business,
to shovel and to make food/drinks for others,
with the bleak grey sky overhead
through the empty birdless tree limbs.  And to ensure
that the house does not burn down
from the fireplace fire—
things have changed.

III.
When the morning comes,
when day breaks, and you are still here,
you look up at the sky
and fall on your knees, thankful
to have passed through this night.

When the morning comes,
with its cold grey sky,
blanketing the stars of the night,
when the chill wind blows
and the sun gives no warmth.

When the morning comes,
and the demons of the night have gone
and have made their peace,
and have retreated once more,
when you are thankful to be alive.

When the morning comes,
when the world is again astir
and comes to consciousness
with faint stale smells of beer and cheap liquor,
as people rouse themselves
from alcoholic post-****** stupors.

When the morning comes,
and the day-animals are again awake
and the night-animals are again asleep,
break of day and the sound of the
south-vanished birds is not heard,
yet echoes remain in the ear.

When the morning comes,
and the coffee machines whir and click and drip drop,
when the steam rises
into the nostrils and the near-boiling
too hot black coffee down the throat,
when the eyes finally open.

When the morning comes,
when the car won’t start for the cold in the engine,
when the windshield is blind for the frost.

When the morning comes,
when all the sordid images
of the night before
appear in the face of the one beside.

When the morning comes,
and you pop your pills
just to make it through the day
and you pack your briefcase
and you walk
and it’s still cold,
when you exhale vapor.

When the morning comes,
when the alarm sounds,
when the snooze resets,
when the alarm sounds.

IV.
You stare into the woods,
perched on your chair on the porch
and I think that there is not much there,
that there are only the small animals
and the dead trees and the crickets
and I think, I think you’re wrong.

Keep your chin up
is the call,
but I don’t think I can—I don’t think you should.
I think it is bad,
I think sticking your neck out or up exposes it to harm;
sometimes it is better,
I think, to hunker down and acknowledge

that everything is wrong,
that everything is broken.  You, horse lover, [Horselover, Horse lover, horselover]
you must endure, you must be
the redwood in the gale,
the sandbag in the hurricane,
the rock in the stream,
the brick house in the wolf.

The jockey buries his head into the horse’s neck,
and you, horselover,
you must stare stoically;
you must not be moved.

That is what they tell us,
we who go through hell and back,
we who journey to rescue Eurydice and to bring her back.  But sometimes,
I think that it is silly,
that it is fruitless,
when what do we bring back but a shade, a spectre,

an abomination, a dæmon,
hideous monstrosity of a deformity of a memory,
eager to vanish in a pillar of salt.  It is said to you,
horselover, to never give up—
but if I never give up,
if I never stop,
then where does it end?
Something ends—there is a giving up,
if you do not exhaust your spirit,
this universe,

this world, will do so.  A thousand million galaxies collide,
a brilliant cosmic dancephony,
until they tire
and grow bored,
and in ten thousand million more years
they cease,
and they slow,

as they spread too far to interact,
friends hampered by the long distances,
lovers who no longer call daily,
who no longer think constantly of each other.
One day, in a hundred thousand million years,
it will be far too cold
to dance or to sing,
and that one day, I think that
you will give up,
that we will give up.

V.
You sit at the oak table,
and you sigh as the horses break out,
out, out, gone.  And you will not chase them,
and I will not seek to bring them back
with lyre-playing.
The horses will run free and unbridled;
you, horse lover, to love something,
set it free, set them free, set the horses to roam across the grass-plains,
set your beautiful passions to free-romp.  I will miss them,
I will miss the horses, and
you will as much as I.  Their long manes
flowing in the breeze.  But you must let go,
but we must let go—
I think that we are in rats’ alley,
and I think that it is time.

Green before me blurs a wall;
Intermittent orange breaks the monochrome,
Hills behind ****** distinct treeshapes above
The wall-line, trees and shiny SUV
And a little field.  Here, the wood is

Weak and termite-ridden,
Here, is a crumbling frame,
And here, no one
Is heard singing, singing—

Éste abandoned for a European long time,
Ése for an American, aquél surrounded     rusty silos
                                       a church, a storage unit,
                                country roads and pick ups

Filled with lumber to
Fatten up the fireplace,
Keep it warm for the winter,
Everyone hidden sheltered in the house
With hot cider and steam and the pine tree,
Surrounded everywhere by a white sea of snow.

The sun still sets fairly late—
Eight o’clock it’s usually dark.
Its rays are still warming, during the day,
But shadows are growing longer
And the wind under the shadows
Is growing colder and finer,
Weaving between the fibers
Of your jacket to sting your skin,
Like a thousand tiny needles.

Nippy days are becoming more frequent,
But not this one—yet.
It hasn’t changed in, oh, seven, eight years,
At least.  The sun shines down on us
Over the grass, the wind
Whistling across the flat field
As we played.

The TV stays on all afternoon,
When you’re home.  Always sounds, noise,
Cooking, hollering, announcers
Saying nothing just to talk.
Cut this day out,
Slide it forward five years,
Ten, whatever.
It still fits.

And when you’re not home,
It’s like it was so long ago,
Outside on a day when everything
Is changing, playing
And having fun.

Steel girders high above,
support a railroad, criss-crossing underneath
to keep it from falling down.
Vertical beams extend from massive
concrete blocks, as tall as two men and as wide.
Megan & Tim 4evr.
Who are Megan and Tim?

Two kids, ages thirteen and fourteen, respectively,
convinced their “love” will last
forever.  Honey, say that you’re mine,
and I’ll be here ‘til the end of time.
No question of whether to stay or go:
he stays by default.  Why wouldn’t he?
Promises and promises pile on,
like heavy rocks placed on your chest for a crushing.

She yelled, jerking me away from my thoughts,
“Hey, wake up and watch this!” as she swung from
the rope, letting go at its peak and flying downward into the water,
landing with a massive splash, like a beautiful
fountain centered in a grassy patch
in the middle of a rich man’s driveway,
lined up perfectly with the massive iron gate.

I laughed, she climbed back out,
and we dried off, and we left.
It was one of those humid days, when you
can feel the sweat building up in your pores
like water behind a dam, just waiting for it
to burst out.  We rolled the windows all the way down
(she insisted on that, I hate having them down),
and I told her about the graffiti.  She didn’t find
the humor in it, and spent the rest of the ride
giving me a thoughtful look, as the wet summer heat
lay heavy on my shoulders.

Speeding home on a hot summer evening,
You can see the storms brewing
On the horizon, far off over the
Still farms.  What a waste of space.

The road is the barrel of a gun,
We the bullet, rushing through it,
To get to the light we see at the end,
So fast you can hardly tell the difference
Between the corn rows and the trees.

As the sun crawls down below the
Horizon CAUTION: CONGESTED AREA.
SLOW DOWN.  We don’t.  Crumbling wooden
Buildings, peeling paint.  A few stragglers
Still working listlessly in this tiny town.

We whip into the driveway, you
Hop out before we can stop,
And you sprint off at a thunderclap.

I.
You were there,
and I was there
too.

And your smile
as you waved
goodbye
(though you did
not know it).

Lindsay,
why didn’t I—
The pale,
silver light
of the moon
reflected off
the gently
rippling water
as you seemed
to swim.
I just watched…

II.
You gave me
pop-tarts first
a year ago,
fresh from
the toaster;
you always
gave me the
one with more
frosting.

The wrinkles
of your smile
(and the spinach
between your teeth)
as we walked,
your hand in mine,
through the city
of lights,
where the doors
of perception
now lie
shut and dead.

You look—,
seem—, looked,
radiant,
like—
like nothing
before or since;
at the place
where speech fails.

III.
What can I do?
I can—
I can still hold
your shirt.
It still smells
like you,
like your sweat,
like your perfume…

I felt empty,
deep inside,
at the funeral,
when everyone
was looking at
your coffin and
not at all at me.
Qué bonito es
un entierro.

You know—
knew—that
I love—
(loved?) you
wholly,
completely,
simply.
And yet—
I watched you—

IV.
When I try
to sleep
at night,
when I lay
my head down,
I see nothing.
I do not
dream
of you.
I do not
dream
of our first kiss.
I do not
dream
of your death.
I do not
dream
of your funeral.
I do not
dream.

You said that we would watch the fake snow fall,
Because we never see real snow, we said;
Instead we sat there empty in the mall.

There on the sofa, cozy, all in all,
Resting softly on my shoulder your head,
You said that we would watch the fake snow fall.

We slowly ate sandwiches, in our tall
Chairs; should have been thinking, What lies ahead?
Instead we sat there empty in the mall.

Sometimes, I sat and hoped for you to call,
Thinking about everything that you said;
You said that we would watch the fake snow fall.

The people walked on by.  I watched them all,
And I wanted us to leave, but instead,
Instead we sat there empty in the mall.

The end of winter neared, flowers bloomed red.
We kissed; you said, We’re through, and then you fled.
You said that we would watch the fake snow fall;
Instead we sat there empty in the mall.

She grabbed my hand and the moon rising behind her
as we turned our faces to the sky,
drawing the energy of the lit skyscrapers,
empty shells humming with fluorescence.

Come morning the sun rose red-hued
and creeping over the windowsill
illuminated slats across the room
as she lay asleep up down, her chest,
her lungs, her nose, up down,
softly. And I watched, and I thought,

and her eyes opened squinting at the sun.
We came to the park later hands held and
she said to me kiss me, saying kiss me,
kiss me, her voice bright and earnest from my shoulder.
I stop my feet and turn my head down and smile

Remember when we were young?
Do you?
Do you
Remember when we were—
When we would—
We would laugh, play,
Carefree.
Remember when we—
I would appear,
As from nothing,
To laugh, without a thought,
With you.
Remember when—
Glowing bright face,
White blond hair,
Pure joy.
Remember—
And what about now?
And what about

The touch that launched a thousand ships,
The one touch in the dark,
The one moment that launched four months,
Four months at sea before they wrecked
On the shore, ruins of the snow.

                                             I sit upon the shore
Watching, watching the thousand ships
With her hand (spin up) entangled in mine (spin down),
Placed by that one touch, so long ago.

Brought together and thrown apart by
Brought together and thrown apart

The wooden ships lay upon the shore,
Damp wood softly over twinkling snow,
Memories of stars.  Some things linger,
Forever entangled.  Whether alive or happy or dead or what unknown.

I sit alone upon the shore
I sit alone staring onto the sea
I sit alone, thinking, wondering,
The sea darkly,
One with the night.  And the memories.

Picking up fragments
Next to the lapping waves, lapping gently
Like a puppy in a bowl, lapping on the snow.
Twinkling reflecting snow and the stars.
That one touch of her hand,
Imprinted on mine as a tattoo.

The smooth, clean guitar floats out of the speakers,
Out of the open windows, and through the night
Air.  It crosses the street, making its way to
Quiet and empty storefronts, abandoned for the night.
Two in the morning is usually pretty empty.

When you can't see any other cars out, it's easy
To assume there aren't any at all.  But when we just
Missed that blue Scion, so close I could see
Her eyes and her mouth wide open,
You'd think that would be a reminder that those
Red octagons read STOP.

You even told me that.  “Just because you're
Mad at me is no reason to ignore the law.”
But I didn't need advice from you, no passenger
Seat driving allowed.  And neither of us
Saw the black Expedition as it exercised its right of way.
And I was the only one to see it afterward.