if only tell me something fragile say perhaps LOVE dreamless blustering of lips tumble
through years distinctly smelling of old sweaters in a careful blade of summer turn
and turn hotly shoulders into sometimes air the fullness of your breath
and fall from heaven (piercing gently every cloud)
in softness stricken with girl arms parting
stabbed by my arms parting
and fill me burning

light,

from the moment of the first breath,
stringing events, mind creates time,
tangled with space, it spins a new thread,
history of a being, moves forward,
down the line, events come to an end,
the mind dissolves, body feeds the elements,
the indestructible core, white dove,
transcends to the branch of the tree of light,
*the thread dissolves, in a wistful note,
the symphony continues in higher octaves.

This early morning time (you do not know
- however much I share its joys)
has been a space, a time aside for me:
to be beside your bed, your sleeping head, hard
into the pillow’s soft rest, deep
among dreams of swarming fish,
the basking shark, the limpet shell,
gannets (always gannets), and the otter.
Seeing its running prints, its tell-tale spraint,
the sleek brownness, sea-sluiced washing on rocks
meters away, you told me the wonder at it all,
your voice sparkling as the sun-glinting sea sparkles.
 
And I am free for once to share your time aside.
Sore and poor, the relentlessness of making
stops. I am chair-bound.
The radio, my books, your dear letters lie beside
the drugs and flowers on this small table where I write.
There is time to think beyond the next bar and the next.
There is time to contemplate the thrill and joy of you
though far away, yet brim-full of such sights that feed my soul.
 
Oh, the innocent joy of exclamation,
each rush of every description made.
The music of your observation,
so harmonious, so pure-toned,
As though the land, the sea, the sky,
wrapping around itself (and tied at your feet),
sings.
 
To share this time aside
       is the sweetest kiss,
       the tenderest touch,
       the most loving, loving look.
Know that please.
Know what happiness
you’ve brought to me
and bring.

One state, two state
Red state, blue state
This state, that state
Short and fat state
States here and over there
Colorful states everywhere!
But as election time draws near,
Each man closes mind and ear
To voices and opinions raised by opponents
As each team raises the arms and pennants
The choices are not clear
The future is bleary
And while many men fight for their side,
Regardless of what is wrong or right
The nation is torn
Like fabric by thorn.

Dark cloud, consort of the rain,
billowing, dense, phantasmagoric, apparition,
             shift--
                     make me a
                     foamy bed, to rest,
                     and a smoky lyre,
                      to make music,
                      give me wings,
                      for my imagination to soar,
                             find me my true love for ever-
                              the ****** white clad maiden of the cloud,
                                the starry eyed angel;
                                  just let me
                                         hover around
                                              with you
                                                       for ever.

A certain quiet glinting in the corner of my eye
a prickle-necked foreboding in a sullen winter sky
An ultrasonic wavelength tuned to sorrow and to fear
comes manifest, projected through my wish to bring it near
A pressure change, a slamming door, a thought of things undone
comes seeping through the paintwork for a bit of spectral fun

And I can sit complacently and watch the show unfold
My perfect explanations make me curious and bold
I wonder how my brain will paint this misty-coloured scene
What face will fly from memory where no face should have been
I have no need for magic or for spirits of the dead
But seek the secret passages that twine within my head

And here it comes, as if on cue, parading through the wall
(A weaker man than me would think his wisdom rather small)
The wraith is clothed in folklore, stepping past without a glance
And I would laugh it off but for one ghastly circumstance:
For all my knowledge, nothing helps the second that I see
That solid as I feel, this ghost
                                                     does not
                                                                ­       believe
                                                                ­                      in me.

(Who wants to know whether
     my heart is scalding still in this cold where
  lungs breathe melted snow every so
often, crystal air caught in twin glasses)

        -Who wants to uproot the
              depths I turn over, weaving
                   days into life worth living and
                cherishing people worth
                              the worry in mind-

                              [Who claims to be
                                      here like a
                                      break in the
                                      tide of grander things, forever in
                                      motion? whose
                                      persuasion stops those hands'
                                                  spinning for a single
                                                              implausible
                                                ­                    moment?]

                         Oh, it's you!

                                  well, that's alright then.