Fecit lux en tenebrio (make light in the darkness)

 

I am trying to find an artful way

to say

this soft and squishy truth.

I saw a candle with

a ginger haired 

Jesus on it he 

looked like a guy I used to 

do construction with

one time we went to a strip

club after work he

was sure this girl really liked him

whatever he got so wasted

he ended up sleeping with his head on

my dashboard

breathing out all his paycheck

in a vodka haze

he was a big square headed dude

That Jesus candle was looking up 

at me telling me about how

you can be willing to do any thing

for a fake ass bitch and she 

won't give a fuck about you

I spent all my money

and didn't even get a handjob 

  you would do any thing for that fake ass bitch

like being tortured and humiliated and 

you know those Romans would rape a motherfucker

for a quarter

  I thought about Jesus and

how he got treated for all 

us fake ass bitches

      dogged out by lesser men

and nailed to a fucking cross like

the worst piece shit ever

without even one kindness except

the final thrust

by a guy who just wanted to 

end his shift

    I was looking for air freshener

and got ambushed by a feeling

  and no one saw my crying

and if they did,

   they would think me

crazy or religious

   World without end

forever and ever 

      half off.

The way of the gun.

 

There isn't enough bark on

this tree to make a basket

and the wood in the forest 

is too green and wet for fires.

Settle down to the ground and look

with your ear to the dark earth

see the run of the rabbits

and the tracks of the wild hogs.

You are not a hunter born

because your teeth are plastic

it's not the killing you hate

it's the cleaning you fumble.

My father who's in heaven

or some place in between

may your suffering be forgotten

and your injuries stay unseen.

No dogs in the house

 

I saw a dog on the lawn

of a house I haven't seen

I mean the yard or the dog

My mom went outside

without her oxygen tank

and the dog , who was miserable

until then, began to frisk

and wag its tail.

She let it in and sat in her

armchair, the one she and

dad brought all the way from 

England

and curled this long spotted

dog in her lap

she nuzzled this quivering pup

and began to shrink and

draw into a ball disappearing

fading but smiling

the beige oxygen tank

and wistful tubing hissing

ruefully and turning into

the gentle shoosh of wind

until all I was left with

was a snoozing

spotted dog

who smelled of 

lilac and bacon.

Time and Tides

 

The waves that roll upon the sand

are an echo of the breaths of man

and the stars that glint and shine above

are reflections of what we call love

while the warm or fearful glow of fires

are  dancing shadows of our desires

As this we see in every bone and  leaf

the life that lingers all too brief

Yes, the hours flow and fill

I held you once, I hold you still

get up with your get down

show up

]

stand up

put up 

kick in

put out

jump in

throw down

so you can

get over

get down

go down

boost up

shut up

and 

get lucky

get laid

get paid

be brave

Effluvia

 Right now and for no reason i'm thinking about ending it all

 which could mean finding the cheapest crudest address as close to a beach or forest as possible hopefully with the royal prerogatives of light and running water 

or putting the greasy dick of my pistol in my aching mouth and going splat

 i remember when i had a terrible  job after desert storm and i got out and learned to play bass

 this shit job involved shit and blood and a lot of goo i cant name

 i remember cleanups where someone ate a bullet and I had to stand on a step stool

 and clean the stalactites of   hair and blood and powder burns and brains 

and i wondered at how lonely and sad it was the unfucked youth of me

 that thought that god did not put any of us here to be so lonely and so sad 

but i know better that the delicious drink of today becomes the greasy cup of the future

 or something like that i saw a bird the other day flying around inside a big box store 

whistling for some reason and ignored trapped or laying claim to his kingdom considering this a trap 

or a house 

keep on trucking

i guess its a living.

cloud

Yes, you can lay on the floor

 and read your book

  feel the seam on the pillow

and look at the fairy lights

feel free to spin spells

with your besties

about the mysteries of your young life

with you as a secret hero

I'll be here to guard your drawbridge

to slay your dragons if they get too real

to cut the crust off your sandwiches

to put a fruit rollup in your questing backpack

Summer is not forever and you

will leave me sleepwalking

in this castle 

but there is always a stable for your horse

Book Haikus

 Try to guess these books

1. You can't have it all

  love and money fly away

some dreams can kill you

2. It's tough to be young

greasers always have to fight

  nothing gold can stay

3 some heroes are small

children's hearts make us more brave

  Boo Radley is cool

4. it rains when you kiss

 Thornfield is dark and lovely

love is not a fire

5. Let's fall in love ,girl

too bad I'm just a vampire

so complicated

Graulus

Where are they now

the unnamed gods?

their hymns unsung,

 i will pour milk out upon 

the stones of their altar

when i can find them

 We still can feel

the sun on our faces

the staff in our hands

 hear the beckoning song

of the sea

What need have we of books

and collections?

 What keeps us going

and loving and showing up?

I call it Faith,

everything else is advertising.

Trifle

 If you were a fruit, 

you wouldn't be a pear

though your curve

bespeaks a cool and soothing air

No, if you were something 

  a hand can touch with dangling reach

         the eye straining to see through leaves

you might be a firm and ripening peach

   At this my turn of phrase breaks down

because you're not a thing to be devoured

 nor dropped into baskets on the ground 

   horita, I'm forced to conjure flowers

Durango

   On the ground, we pass

over the short grass, sharp

with the heat as it makes clumps

 with tiny shadows that look like

huts on the prairie

  here and there, little drifts 

of shredded plastic

stuck on bushes and 

making colonies in the 

 brown barbed wire

This nameless field crouching

down at the feet of 

dirty brick gods with

faded signs hushed

full of graffiti and blind doorways

Honestly, it is more a home

than the gardens I have seen

this place where we grew up

and learned to trust each other

and keep our secrets close, my brother.

Rona One

in the ugly glare of fear

there is no friendly gesture

is no feeling that you exist

a small piece of plastic

tells you you're infected

and the friends you thought

you had are fleeing 

the bad news is that you 

have the rona

the good news is that 

you feel fine

"bring out your dead!"

i say, as i range walk

out the door

past the other teachers

is this what we're afraid of?

you know, there's far worse out

in the world, because

everybody's ass is up for grabs

as the great thinker of the ages 

has said

was it Epicures or Staff Sergeant Barnett?

either way, they were wise to the ways

of this spinning rock

full of clowns  

i feel fine

even though i just found out

that my health insurance 

is a street rip

after I cough up, pun intended

over ten percent of my salary

they might pick up

some of the tab

maybe

These fucking humps in 

this world are more deadly

than pneumonia

I keep my distance 

from all the good 

in my life to 

keep them working 

to keep them safe

to become a more 

convenient version 

of the disposable man

I feel fine.

Shana Tova

 The year starts with weariness

and an empty canteen, and

a sweaty brow.

One foot at a time, it goes,

the bellows of its lungs

in time with the angina

of its watery heart.

  A fly beshatted motivational 

poster exhorts

the viewer to keep getting up

after being knocked down,

but what it should say

is that being hopeless

is the human condition

from 30,000 feet up

and that you've got to 

keep going anyway.

  We will trudge onward

and steal laughter and joy

from our stingy master

pilfering kisses and good

company

and minor achievements

like writing little poems

route marching 

alongside this 

shuddering disaster of a new year.