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"coyotes" poems
I can imagine myself as a midwife or a medicine woman— waking early wandering the wooddesertmountain with bad-ass boots & a patchy coat, pockets filled with rosemary and crystals driving an old truck that smells of rolled cigarettes and gasoline drinking hot tea out of a mason jar. i see all of this & I wonder where this image will land me. Portland in the fall? Nevada in the Winter? Colorado? Montana? But I need the trees. My power is in the mountains. Or maybe it is in the moon—and her face isn’t bound to the side of the mountain i need the howl of coyotes, the smell of pine, the sound of running water over rocks, cold air, wind. i crave this to the center of my bones. i want to dance with fire women, sing air songs, pray to the earth, bathe in the water, and speak with the spirit mother & the red father that binds all of these together in a chaotic harmony i will never understand. i need to paint my body with the stain of poke berry and run, foot against stone, against decaying leaves. there is a savage within me that needs to run free that needs to bark at the moon and breathe clean air.
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Nov 12, 2012
Nov 12, 2012 at 5:03 PM UTC
wise-woman visions
Hailstorms with big winds, trees writhing in breezes Coyotes howling in moonlight, dogs when they sneezes Alloys and carved toys, stone gargoyles with wings These are a few of my favorite things. Skunk smells carried gently on nocturnal breezes Sly double entendres and tickley teases Beautiful salmon colored sunsets that make my jaw drop Smell of pine 'n cedar in my sauna and wood shop! Dolphins and doggies and toddlers and mooses Saunas and cold plunges and honking V-flying gooses Small mutts and storytellers and Pixar cartoons Crazy call of the Maine dark of night loons These are some of my nurturing tunes! Volcanoes with lava and magma all oozing Cross country skiing just gliding and cruising Receiving massages unwinding and unbruising I love my collections of adhesives and strings These are a few of my favorite things! So when the wasps sting When the bored people whine Wen I'm feeling dispirited and sad I just think of a few of my favorite things And I don't feel…so…bad!
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Apr 4, 2015
Apr 4, 2015 at 8:26 PM UTC
My Favorite Things
*Between the night and daylight,      As twilight begins to shower, Comes a lull in the day's preparations,      Cherished as the Kittys' Hour. I hear in the kitchen beside me,      The patter of tiny feet, Rumbles of varying motors      With "meow's" gentle and sweet. Leaping from counter with agile grace      On my shoulder with a purr; Sail grave Thomas and sweet Lady Jane,      And Susan of golden fur. A "meow," and then a long silence,      I know by mischievous eyes, They are scheming and musing together,      To vanquish my weary sighs. With sudden dash from the hallway,      Tortie bounds into my arms! Felines of all colours sit starring,      Delighting me with their charms. Frolicking with skillful ease,      Tossing and batting their catnip-mouse; If I run to escape, they surround me,      They appear to overflow the house. Suffocating me with their kisses,      Furry paws patting my face; And though they have torn the kitchen blinds,      They dazzle me with their grace. I hug you all close in loving arms,      And will n'er let you depart, Nor ****** you dears out to coyotes,      For you each have won my heart. And here shall you dwell forever,      Cherished more each golden day; Till this glad house fall into ruin,      And I in dust shall decay.*                  ~Hilda~
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Oct 31, 2012
Oct 31, 2012 at 3:07 AM UTC
The Kittys' Hour.
Are my scars saying words, Too frankly to you? What of my wounds, That have yet to heal? Is my courage too loud, For you, Sir Proud - Am I too brokenly real?
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Jul 28, 2011
Jul 28, 2011 at 9:57 AM UTC
Elephants & Coyotes
To get from the streets to a new life jungle high Keeping alive The will to survive Months keep seeping through grates of sub-grieving no one said life would be easy Moths, spiders - the size of hands Creeping through the sands Aching because they can And so do I And so do we Together, through the darkest night of rain Coming to the dawn of healing pain. Come on knees crawling slow Heaving forth the throne of gold - Don’t need nothin’ ‘cept Love in Heaven Thus we cross the lonely river bed Lying side by side, head to head - Say was that a bear growling? Or was it just coyotes howling? Lonely nights pretending to smile Medicine only helps a little while I’m sorry I fall into black holes often It’s just hard to stand long, once you’ve fallen I envy your stance, though I can’t tell if you’re real Maybe you’re an image of my mind Created to keep me in line Either case, you failed me It’s alright Life goes on
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Dec 13, 2013
Dec 13, 2013 at 10:05 AM UTC
Concrete Greenery
And then I too am part of the silence that casts its post-sunset stillness throughout this swamp white oak's great spread. It seems as though even the hive of honeybees and the nearby nest of baby birds have stopped to admire the feeling of the world tilting on its axis; sinking through space. We all gaze further upwards, those bees and birds and I. And nestled in the remaining twigs above, is the shockingly finite dance of the leaves... of the stars. The shadows that hang from the top-most branches cast their way down around me and coat their way all over the ground, making it easy to forget the height— the ultimate suspension. Because born within my skin is a swamp white oak, stretching its branches through the grey matter in my mind, over-taking and over-whelming. At the end of it all is me: a tiny little acorn laid by an impossible evolution of people into trees. Every cell becomes leaf and the heart a listening ear. Amongst the chorus of the frogs, the owls, the coyotes— the chorus of the woods around— is that shift so revered. The shift of the Earth. The Earth tilting on its axis. It’s time to admit that the maps and man’s little green boxes there, are nothing but products of a continually diminishing temper... showing that when this swamp white falls, it won’t just be a wood that’s finally left barren. It won't just be a body left emptied and charred. Please, I think, as the bark gets flimsier and flimsier beneath my feet. As the wind gets fiercer and fiercer howling in my ears. *Please. Let this lone acorn standing here sprout into something. Let a swamp white oak be seen.*
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Apr 22, 2014
Apr 22, 2014 at 6:27 PM UTC
Climbing Trees at Dusk
And then I too am part of the silence that casts its post-sunset stillness throughout this swamp white oak's great spread. It seems as though even the hive of honeybees and the nearby nest of baby birds have stopped to admire the feeling of the world tilting on its axis; sinking through space. We all gaze further upwards, those bees and birds and I. And nestled in the remaining twigs above, is the shockingly finite dance of the leaves... of the stars. The shadows that hang from the top-most branches cast their way down around me and coat their way all over the ground, making it easy to forget the height— the ultimate suspension. Because born within my skin is a swamp white oak, stretching its branches through the grey matter in my mind, over-taking and over-whelming. At the end of it all is me: a tiny little acorn laid by an impossible evolution of people into trees. Every cell becomes leaf and the heart a listening ear. Amongst the chorus of the frogs, the owls, the coyotes— the chorus of the woods around— is that shift so revered. The shift of the Earth. The Earth tilting on its axis. It’s time to admit that the maps and man’s little green boxes there, are nothing but products of a continually diminishing temper... showing that when this swamp white falls, it won’t just be a wood that’s finally left barren. It won't just be a body left emptied and charred. Please, I think, as the bark gets flimsier and flimsier beneath my feet. As the wind gets fiercer and fiercer howling in my ears. *Please. Let this lone acorn standing here sprout into something. Let a swamp white oak be seen.*
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57
Cold winter camping Frigorific night huddled around fire Many coyotes auspiciously howling nearby "Don't worry, they're across the water" Still I wait at the ready with coyot-basher Tents in snow shielded from peninsula By tarps lashed together with rope and ply "You'd probably die out here" says Oscar Here meaning Newfoundland Here meaning the Northern Pen. Agreeing monosylabically Nearly hypothermic thinking Not so bad Maybe stay another night (says the voice) Sneak down to water And jump in ice fishing hole
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Nov 23, 2014
Nov 23, 2014 at 8:47 AM UTC
Fishing Hole
I was three , no bigger than a west Texas tumbleweed . . . just three . My mother hung the wash out on the line and wiped the sweat off her brow with her hand . Half an hour later the clothes were frozen . Blue Norther . . . you can see them coming a hundred miles away . Wichita Falls , Texas . . . on the Wichita river . Moses sat on a mountaintop gazing at the promised land but it was out of his hands now . Leaning on his staff , the one that ate the Pharoh's two serpents . . . sssssssilently a single tear falls to the ground . No fence could hold me . . . I was over or under in seconds . A terror at three , a potential runaway . The police knew me by first name  . . . just three . The plains of North Texas , jackrabbits , coyotes , rattlesnakes and all . . . were home . Forty years of desert wilderness , till the last man , woman , and child of Egyptian connection had died , . . . . . . was such a sacrifice made . . . . . . Moses was the last to fall . On a mountaintop of no consequences .       "Run Rabbit Run"
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Jan 27, 2015
Jan 27, 2015 at 8:51 PM UTC
Forty Years and Twenty More (1953 - 2013)
Crossing the field One foot after the other, Grass under my feet, Clay staining my skin red With each heavy step. I drag along, Instead of flying past like I once did. My each step is slow and hesitant, Instant of a leap and a lunge Towards whatever the future may hold. And grasshoppers And little moths and fireflies Float and hop around me, As the sun settles behind the Earth, And the moon rises into the sky. The grass is green, but yellowing, And leaves decay at my feet. Spirals of red and orange leaves Spin around me a thousand times, And the falling stars caress My moonlit skin. I am the night time, And I don't want to be. I am when the wolves and coyotes sing mournful songs, I am when the foxes and cats come out to hunt. I am the night time, And I creep across golden fields As slowly as the gold fades to gray, Where the sky touches the earth. And I want to be warmed by the sunlight, But I am shivering and cold, Within my shadow realm. I sit within the tall grasses, Amongst the trees that sway in The harsh winter winds. I feed off moon flowers and snapdragons, Yearning to find a daffodil for myself. And the warmth of the sun calls me home, But I want to be bask in the light, Instead I blow away, And I disappear. And as I prance and spin in the evening, Casting rays of blue twilight across the landscape, My brown eyes catch your blue, And while I believe you can't see me, I hope to the moon and back that you do. I am the spirit of the night time, But your eyes are like the day's sky, And I could stare into your sunlight lined iris's For eternity upon eternity. And with fluttering wings, I painted you stars in the royal violet and navy sky, I prayed that you'd make me yours, But I was impatient And you fell along with me Into the realm where Landscape meets starscape, And the blues of the night Met the greens of the day, And I'll love you forever Where the sky touches the earth.
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Oct 23, 2016
Oct 23, 2016 at 7:53 PM UTC
Where the Sky Touches the Earth (I'll love you forever)
Crossing the field One foot after the other, Grass under my feet, Clay staining my skin red With each heavy step. I drag along, Instead of flying past like I once did. My each step is slow and hesitant, Instant of a leap and a lunge Towards whatever the future may hold. And grasshoppers And little moths and fireflies Float and hop around me, As the sun settles behind the Earth, And the moon rises into the sky. The grass is green, but yellowing, And leaves decay at my feet. Spirals of red and orange leaves Spin around me a thousand times, And the falling stars caress My moonlit skin. I am the night time, And I don't want to be. I am when the wolves and coyotes sing mournful songs, I am when the foxes and cats come out to hunt. I am the night time, And I creep across golden fields As slowly as the gold fades to gray, Where the sky touches the earth. And I want to be warmed by the sunlight, But I am shivering and cold, Within my shadow realm. I sit within the tall grasses, Amongst the trees that sway in The harsh winter winds. I feed off moon flowers and snapdragons, Yearning to find a daffodil for myself. And the warmth of the sun calls me home, But I want to be bask in the light, Instead I blow away, And I disappear. And as I prance and spin in the evening, Casting rays of blue twilight across the landscape, My brown eyes catch your blue, And while I believe you can't see me, I hope to the moon and back that you do. I am the spirit of the night time, But your eyes are like the day's sky, And I could stare into your sunlight lined iris's For eternity upon eternity. And with fluttering wings, I painted you stars in the royal violet and navy sky, I prayed that you'd make me yours, But I was impatient And you fell along with me Into the realm where Landscape meets starscape, And the blues of the night Met the greens of the day, And I'll love you forever Where the sky touches the earth.
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61
Tonight we’re aligned with the stars I’m wearing Orion’s belt You’re drinking in thirsty gulps from the big dipper The little one’s in freckles on your chest And now I can hear the wind chimes On the porch I can hear the leaves Of the Bradford Pear I can hear the cats and dogs and coyotes and deer and owls Making nighttime noises I can hear mom snoring in the house For one of the last times I can hear the trampoline springs creaking with age And feel it bouncing and swaying under us Like it did in its heyday I can hear you sniffling, sister, I can hear you crying Your warm wet tears Are drowning my ears Like all those summers we did swim team When I take your hand It’s smaller than I remember It’s Abby circa ‘99 Though you didn’t let me hold it then And I never tried Now our hair is curling in swirling halos Around the same face Mom’s face We never did look like Dad Now we’re gazing at the same stars Under the same March sky Thinking, saying, “God is good” Saying, believing, “How can He not be? When the sky looks like this” Believing, knowing, that it’s true Even while our hearts are rocks, Our hands are clay, Our minds are swarming Teeming Buzzing Hives But “God is good” “How can He not be? When the sky looks like this” When our mother is a fish How can He not be? We know: “God is good.” While we’re reading the Braille of the sky Two foxes slink by Now we dismount the trampoline and go inside Where we hear Mom snoring For one of the last times
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Mar 19, 2012
Mar 19, 2012 at 3:40 PM UTC
The Trampoline
Tonight we’re aligned with the stars I’m wearing Orion’s belt You’re drinking in thirsty gulps from the big dipper The little one’s in freckles on your chest And now I can hear the wind chimes On the porch I can hear the leaves Of the Bradford Pear I can hear the cats and dogs and coyotes and deer and owls Making nighttime noises I can hear mom snoring in the house For one of the last times I can hear the trampoline springs creaking with age And feel it bouncing and swaying under us Like it did in its heyday I can hear you sniffling, sister, I can hear you crying Your warm wet tears Are drowning my ears Like all those summers we did swim team When I take your hand It’s smaller than I remember It’s Abby circa ‘99 Though you didn’t let me hold it then And I never tried Now our hair is curling in swirling halos Around the same face Mom’s face We never did look like Dad Now we’re gazing at the same stars Under the same March sky Thinking, saying, “God is good” Saying, believing, “How can He not be? When the sky looks like this” Believing, knowing, that it’s true Even while our hearts are rocks, Our hands are clay, Our minds are swarming Teeming Buzzing Hives But “God is good” “How can He not be? When the sky looks like this” When our mother is a fish How can He not be? We know: “God is good.” While we’re reading the Braille of the sky Two foxes slink by Now we dismount the trampoline and go inside Where we hear Mom snoring For one of the last times
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53
frogs "croaking" in front of me, in the reeds crickets "chirping" behind me, in the brush countless coyotes "yelping" from across the lake bass, carp surfacing under a yellow moon unaware its shimmering shaft’s a magnet to my eye   and more lullaby to me, who can yet see spectral waves but lost cherished vibrations--like birdsong, winsome whispers--eons ago
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May 12, 2016
May 12, 2016 at 6:14 PM UTC
lakeside lullabies
Helicopter blades chop through arid air sirens fill space off in the distance. Somewhere, someone still believes the promise of prosperity the American dream but not much really lives in Lost Angeles **** roaches and coyotes. Police spotlights eye-ing up dilapidated housing developments like a ***** show. Cops driving slow on streets that form lines like dope trails like they're looking for crack on skid row or ***** on Hollywood Boulevard or someone to talk to on the last train to Union Station. Helicopter blades chop through arid air sirens fill space off in the distance.
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Dec 16, 2013
Dec 16, 2013 at 9:29 PM UTC
Lost Angeles
I am from the towering oak and pine trees That sway on the old forest’s edge, Coyotes howling in the shadows A haunting lamentation I am from the creaky stairs and floorboards At the house on Liberty Street, From the ancient gas heater and its tendrils of flame That never seemed to be quite hot enough I am from the sound of my father’s voice Heavy with sleep as he whispers to us A late night bedtime story, Scaring away the monsters under our beds I am from Sunday mornings Bursting with rays of golden light and Filtering through glimmering church windows Lingering on familiar faces I am from ‘make good choices’ 'Be a peacemaker’ ‘You are greatness’ and ‘Oiaue!’ I am from the scent of Mom’s cookies Chocolate chip and butterscotch Melting away winters and Warming cold hearts I am from acrylic paint, Graphite, ink and canvas From smudged hands, stained clothes, And a sketchbook full of scribblings I am from the crisp chill of autumn In the mountains of Vermont, Staring into a sea of stars As dazzling sparks float skyward in the distance I am from the cool sea breeze And the salty mist over the water Waves crashing fiercely in the haze Of Newport’s rocky shores I am from the quiet peace That can only come from the words “I love you” and the warm embrace That often follows I am from endless words Written with shaking, ink-stained hands On crumpled bone white paper Hoping to be good enough to keep I am from weak muscles and fragile bones From hesitant first steps and training wheels From stubborn no’s and penitent yes’s From late nights and shadowy eyes I am from the past I am from the present I am from the trembling, changing Pathway to my future I am from this house This family and This home
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Sep 26, 2013
Sep 26, 2013 at 8:08 AM UTC
I am from Endless Words
I am from the towering oak and pine trees That sway on the old forest’s edge, Coyotes howling in the shadows A haunting lamentation I am from the creaky stairs and floorboards At the house on Liberty Street, From the ancient gas heater and its tendrils of flame That never seemed to be quite hot enough I am from the sound of my father’s voice Heavy with sleep as he whispers to us A late night bedtime story, Scaring away the monsters under our beds I am from Sunday mornings Bursting with rays of golden light and Filtering through glimmering church windows Lingering on familiar faces I am from ‘make good choices’ 'Be a peacemaker’ ‘You are greatness’ and ‘Oiaue!’ I am from the scent of Mom’s cookies Chocolate chip and butterscotch Melting away winters and Warming cold hearts I am from acrylic paint, Graphite, ink and canvas From smudged hands, stained clothes, And a sketchbook full of scribblings I am from the crisp chill of autumn In the mountains of Vermont, Staring into a sea of stars As dazzling sparks float skyward in the distance I am from the cool sea breeze And the salty mist over the water Waves crashing fiercely in the haze Of Newport’s rocky shores I am from the quiet peace That can only come from the words “I love you” and the warm embrace That often follows I am from endless words Written with shaking, ink-stained hands On crumpled bone white paper Hoping to be good enough to keep I am from weak muscles and fragile bones From hesitant first steps and training wheels From stubborn no’s and penitent yes’s From late nights and shadowy eyes I am from the past I am from the present I am from the trembling, changing Pathway to my future I am from this house This family and This home
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55
I have used up all my tokens and squandered all my pardons; all that’s left is tarnished pyrite and a jewellery box for two. For I will tear your heart out and feed it to the coyotes; you may be the one for me, but I’m no good for you. As the field runs crimson I’ll proceed to crack your spirit. I know that this is foolish, but love - this is all I know. If the moon would make a bargain on the dust that seals up fractures, I would strip my backbone reaching out to make it so; I would mend each tiny crevice - plant hydrangeas in the darkness, but without a new foundation it is all still frail and makeshift; and each compounding weight is all crushed-guts and shattered-statements. Again we’re set a whirling; we can’t recognize our faces. The strongest tree is only paper and my convoluted nature is just a fallacy I’ve built to house, my fear of what is true. So, we’ll dance until our knees split, you’ll repeat that we’re a unit and as I kick the chair out choke a final, “i love You.” . . .  .  .   .   .    .    .     .     .     .      .      .       .       .        .         .          .           .                 . Amidst staggered breaths my fragile frame converts to dust. Oak entombs the ashen ruins of a long awaited   Us.
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Aug 11, 2011
Aug 11, 2011 at 6:43 PM UTC
A Love Letter, if there ever was one.
The moon calls to me tonight— I cannot resist her charms. I slip beyond the confines of my room To let the evening soak into my soul. A full moon spills her silver light, Darkness braided with her glow. Rocky earth crunches beneath my feet, Each step alive with sound and scent. The high desert hums its song: Stars glimmer, coyotes cry. A noisy stillness fills the air, As daylight’s brightness fills the sky. My heaven is green grass, And scent of sagebrush and hay. I belong in this moonlit nirvana, Where constellations burn like fire.
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Aug 12, 2025
Aug 12, 2025 at 1:52 PM UTC
Midnight Walking
There's a place between society and the wild Where aimless bodies are piled We call it the Wastelands All creatures die of old age Or hunger inside this cage The deer are never hit by cars For they never travel that far The Wastelands use fear That's what keeps them here The Wastelands are a scary place It's horrifying how nothing happens It becomes too much to face So we hide under satin To provide comfortable resting And avoid Wastelands testing The Wastelands are a barren environment Solitary coyotes learn from the cacti Who soak up meager moisture And become prickly to protect it Never knowing if nourishment was near They grew prickly because of their fear We inhabit the Wastelands We're trapped here Where the walls of the city Seem to mirror The walls of the wilderness So it's here we build our nest But surviving is a constant test Because we have useless hands Here in the Wastelands Wastelands Interaction Is reaction Create a faction And never leave Even if love cleaves It lies behind ramparts of containment And the fear of society's arraignment Even if peace calls It stays behind walls Of trees hiding predators That keep us embedded here So we ***** barriers to protect us From the barriers surrounding us We find our connections through hatred And build teams around it We made foolish deals with Satan This is what we're amounted Scavengers from both worlds encroach the Wastelands Journalists and artists mine our souls Vultures mine our flesh like gold Taking what they need and going home Our rabid mouths begin to show foam From the frustration of loss But inactivity is our cross While we watch carrion feeders Carry on eating Our friends Until we turn and look away Knowing that'll be us one day Because in the Wastelands Friends are just creatures who are near There are no animals to hold dear We're afraid to lend an ear When Wastelands use fear The Wastelands are hell Dry river beds tell of a time When the rain fell But now we're plagued by drought You can tell by looking at the trout They flop on the ground Wondering where to wander for water The cacti remain still It's the Wastelands will In the Wastelands we wait to die Although we really want to fly We're just afraid of heights Which impedes our sight Where we can't view over our own barricades It's fear that prohibits our ability to elevate And we see that the order is too tall Back into the Wastelands we fall
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Sep 12, 2017
Sep 12, 2017 at 9:30 AM UTC
Wastelands
There's a place between society and the wild Where aimless bodies are piled We call it the Wastelands All creatures die of old age Or hunger inside this cage The deer are never hit by cars For they never travel that far The Wastelands use fear That's what keeps them here The Wastelands are a scary place It's horrifying how nothing happens It becomes too much to face So we hide under satin To provide comfortable resting And avoid Wastelands testing The Wastelands are a barren environment Solitary coyotes learn from the cacti Who soak up meager moisture And become prickly to protect it Never knowing if nourishment was near They grew prickly because of their fear We inhabit the Wastelands We're trapped here Where the walls of the city Seem to mirror The walls of the wilderness So it's here we build our nest But surviving is a constant test Because we have useless hands Here in the Wastelands Wastelands Interaction Is reaction Create a faction And never leave Even if love cleaves It lies behind ramparts of containment And the fear of society's arraignment Even if peace calls It stays behind walls Of trees hiding predators That keep us embedded here So we ***** barriers to protect us From the barriers surrounding us We find our connections through hatred And build teams around it We made foolish deals with Satan This is what we're amounted Scavengers from both worlds encroach the Wastelands Journalists and artists mine our souls Vultures mine our flesh like gold Taking what they need and going home Our rabid mouths begin to show foam From the frustration of loss But inactivity is our cross While we watch carrion feeders Carry on eating Our friends Until we turn and look away Knowing that'll be us one day Because in the Wastelands Friends are just creatures who are near There are no animals to hold dear We're afraid to lend an ear When Wastelands use fear The Wastelands are hell Dry river beds tell of a time When the rain fell But now we're plagued by drought You can tell by looking at the trout They flop on the ground Wondering where to wander for water The cacti remain still It's the Wastelands will In the Wastelands we wait to die Although we really want to fly We're just afraid of heights Which impedes our sight Where we can't view over our own barricades It's fear that prohibits our ability to elevate And we see that the order is too tall Back into the Wastelands we fall
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82
Fissures cut through thick mocha fur, saturating The forest floor with stark crimson. The deer flails, Broken, knees buckled, breath shallow and emerging As vanishing steam in frosty November air. He falls on a bed of sugar maple leaves, illuminated In dappled sunlight and fulvous hues. “Must’ve been the coyotes,” my brother whispers, As my pocketknife meets the stag’s throat. Gentle Auburn clouds and freezes time, the body falls still. My father says, “Sacrifice is a form of worship, but it is only through Mercy that we may show passion for what we believe.” Coyote bites prevent carvings from going to Buxton’s General Store, But what nature produces it also receives. Ants forage along the split underbelly, And a red-tailed hawk carries away the entrails. History defines the antlers of deer as symbols of the Gods, And men would wear them atop their heads. I collect only them, still draped with threads of velvet, Knowing that years from now, nestled inside the perimeter Of wind-beaten fences around the family farm, beyond Moss-covered slopes and the Wishing Rock, Will be the bones of a solitary stag.
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Sep 22, 2014
Sep 22, 2014 at 1:50 PM UTC
Mercy
Hills, brown rustic reds skies pile colored layers on Rattlesnake vertebrae bones scent of creosote high desert home Lover, painter wild poppies - orange paper petals, sepal magnification watercolor, oil painted gradations Abiquiu home, desert ghosts, coyotes wildflower gardens grown to pick, to paint perfection a flower alone
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Nov 8, 2012
Nov 8, 2012 at 10:17 PM UTC
Abiquiu home
there’s nothing like fire and stars when you’re drunk i sleep to crickets and coyotes and rain this half a heart becomes a whole whether or not you know it out here i am never alone spent most of my life in places like these and i’m always looking for more recount the gossamer threads because i love those words and the nonsense means nothing but i love nothing it feels like home there’s nothing like fire and stars when you’re sober it’s not the alcohol that makes the scene it’s the scene that makes the alcohol obsolete i sleep to crickets and coyotes and rain i drink to crickets and coyotes and rain i breathe to crickets and coyotes and rain i believe in those gossamer threads fire and stars alcoholic words i love nothing it feels like home
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Oct 29, 2013
Oct 29, 2013 at 11:38 AM UTC
crickets
The midnight air is filled with fetid sewage the city block houses yards of gravel and broken bricks decorated streets of graffiti and ***** roaches skitter across sidewalks A homeless woman sleeps on the sidewalk a hundred yards away from the lofts where I am safe And I think where did it go wrong? You lie here every night with a casted foot and crutches covered with the remains of a blanket wondering where the next meal hides Do you beg or play the raccoon? This city never slows sirens howl to the light polluted sky constantly like a coyotes staccato bark Cranes reach toward the heavens with a question to ask God Can we build to your home and charge a fee to view the gates? The nightclub below full of drunks or to be drunks, bellowing for attention before riding home with a stranger and waking up to another mistake of empty emotions With a hunger for acceptance one will venture out with one of questionable honesty if the drugs are cheap And here I am walking the ***** streets at one in the morning in this menagerie of a city because I can’t Sleep absorbing the sights and the smell of sick and disgust but in the morning all will be Different The sun will hide the dark the sky will add color the homeless will be camouflaged with the busy crowd buildings will look alive bustling with people the crane will be building looking for an answer And I still will not be able to Sleep. **** this filthy city. And yet, I wouldn’t call any other place home.
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Sep 2, 2018
Sep 2, 2018 at 1:54 AM UTC
This Filthy City
In the beginning there is a class of creatures we call Gods that much later we realize are just mono- instances of god. From the tower I babble tongues, coded messages and ciphers that you implement in your daily rituals and obsessive behaviors. In R, it's something like, christ <- god(moral compass) In Ruby it could be buddha = God.new And perhaps a nihilist or we would find happiness in 10000.times do pushRock = buhdda.take(me) end It's all pidgin for me, unstructured glimpses at a world that's moving and changing faster than my non-existent grandson can comprehend. It's all a network of +1 and like'd firing mix media, reinforcing a nascent thought stream,   back-propagating our legends and fairy tales, Grimm reminders of epic Odyssey | 5 Armies in film | Warring States | loping dog with a severed hand in Akira black & white mouth repossessing Spaghetti Westerns back into our feudal ***** Fire, firing into the Monsoon rain. Always in the Hemingway rain of symbols and Matrix green code. And in my cupped hand, I catch glimmering fireflies, instances of Gaiman's American gods, Tricksters, Coyotes, and my faithful Dog smiling at me.
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Jan 4, 2015
Jan 4, 2015 at 2:12 PM UTC
Coded meta-messages
To hell with maintaining a fire just so faces could be seen. I danced on the embers extinguishing little stars and I scribbled in my notes and waited for that one girl to shut up about Twitter and Halloween costumes so I could hear— the fog dragging its tongue up the valley. Finally she began to realize the contest she was losing, took the quiet advice of myself and the wind and went to go tuck herself into the tent, into the safety of ceiling. But, you and I opted to be coyotes on the hillside. I took the trail away from our sleeping counterparts, and flayed you on the dirt where I stripped you of your fur, howling to the fog and plowing valleys in your flesh, your legs grew into roots, and wove length by longer length ‘round all the sturdy angles, the anchors of my hips and you, oh you, you would **** the marrow from my bone. And when we lay out, raw and steaming knees bleeding from the drainage ditch, a gnawing fades out, falls to dreaming, we, peeling off a well-known itch. Then we play a game with satellites Where bouncing mirrors reflect our minds And laugh when the reflections never fit. I gather up my skin, step one foot in and stumble when the tightness traps my leg, You pin up your ******* to please our sleeping guests that wouldn’t take to anything irregular. On the upward hike ten million lights, ten million lives herded on the table of L.A. A Serengeti of fire, a mass migration; mammoths marching, tusks dipped in flame Sitting around campfires once taught vocal apes to rhyme but a million conversations bleaches each the other white and now a million electric campfires bleaches L.A.’s lower sky. And though I stomped out ours the ash remains a scar where we had nearly forgot how to speak by choosing to not.
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Dec 13, 2011
Dec 13, 2011 at 6:22 AM UTC
Camping in Turnbull
To hell with maintaining a fire just so faces could be seen. I danced on the embers extinguishing little stars and I scribbled in my notes and waited for that one girl to shut up about Twitter and Halloween costumes so I could hear— the fog dragging its tongue up the valley. Finally she began to realize the contest she was losing, took the quiet advice of myself and the wind and went to go tuck herself into the tent, into the safety of ceiling. But, you and I opted to be coyotes on the hillside. I took the trail away from our sleeping counterparts, and flayed you on the dirt where I stripped you of your fur, howling to the fog and plowing valleys in your flesh, your legs grew into roots, and wove length by longer length ‘round all the sturdy angles, the anchors of my hips and you, oh you, you would **** the marrow from my bone. And when we lay out, raw and steaming knees bleeding from the drainage ditch, a gnawing fades out, falls to dreaming, we, peeling off a well-known itch. Then we play a game with satellites Where bouncing mirrors reflect our minds And laugh when the reflections never fit. I gather up my skin, step one foot in and stumble when the tightness traps my leg, You pin up your ******* to please our sleeping guests that wouldn’t take to anything irregular. On the upward hike ten million lights, ten million lives herded on the table of L.A. A Serengeti of fire, a mass migration; mammoths marching, tusks dipped in flame Sitting around campfires once taught vocal apes to rhyme but a million conversations bleaches each the other white and now a million electric campfires bleaches L.A.’s lower sky. And though I stomped out ours the ash remains a scar where we had nearly forgot how to speak by choosing to not.
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There once lived a family of rats, caught up in wires and tubes and they probably thought they had it good until the car started. That car’s air conditioning smelled like death stench for weeks, until we got it looked at. Who knew we killed a family, who knew they ate their way under the hood, who knew we killed a family and they reminded us of it for weeks. —— My mother and father killed my dog, barely big enough to not be called a puppy anymore, they ran over her, as she slumbered in the tall weeds and grasses of a field. —— We had a chicken named Thumper, his body grew big but his head never did, and he teetered and tottered on ballerina pointed feet, and the other roosters wanted to eat him alive. When we sacrificied him, my parents plucked his back, and they saw that his skin was a green-purple secret, hidden by a humpback and so many feathers. —— Our third horse got caught in the river. Big Mama got caught in Little River. I guess it’s not surprising when big things die when they get caught in little things. —— The coyotes got the rest of the chickens. —— The rattlesnakes almost got the rest of the horses. —— Most people don’t know that farm-fresh eggs are covered in blood. —— We had two of the largest, ugliest geese. They flew away. —— The cat died under the hot tub, we couldn’t find her for days. —— The forest is always a graveyard, is always hallowed ground, is where we buried the animals. Then they built a subdivision.
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Sep 27, 2012
Sep 27, 2012 at 2:22 AM UTC
Morbid Farm Life Anecdotes (or The Only Things I Know How to Write About Lately)
There once lived a family of rats, caught up in wires and tubes and they probably thought they had it good until the car started. That car’s air conditioning smelled like death stench for weeks, until we got it looked at. Who knew we killed a family, who knew they ate their way under the hood, who knew we killed a family and they reminded us of it for weeks. —— My mother and father killed my dog, barely big enough to not be called a puppy anymore, they ran over her, as she slumbered in the tall weeds and grasses of a field. —— We had a chicken named Thumper, his body grew big but his head never did, and he teetered and tottered on ballerina pointed feet, and the other roosters wanted to eat him alive. When we sacrificied him, my parents plucked his back, and they saw that his skin was a green-purple secret, hidden by a humpback and so many feathers. —— Our third horse got caught in the river. Big Mama got caught in Little River. I guess it’s not surprising when big things die when they get caught in little things. —— The coyotes got the rest of the chickens. —— The rattlesnakes almost got the rest of the horses. —— Most people don’t know that farm-fresh eggs are covered in blood. —— We had two of the largest, ugliest geese. They flew away. —— The cat died under the hot tub, we couldn’t find her for days. —— The forest is always a graveyard, is always hallowed ground, is where we buried the animals. Then they built a subdivision.
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