Monday, June 23, 2014

the golden dog






or lives controlled by
need and not desire


end of summer and the
                  idea of fear
too large to be ignored

gun held tight in the
fist of christ

taste of gravel and of
              broken glass

cold blue sky over empty parking lots,
over the clean, meaningless lines
                             of gas stations

over the corpses of children
killed by chemical warfare, because
the world is always so much
more than your own small,
                      petty failures

the kingdom of ashes
begins at your door

the missing man is found two weeks
later on some weed-choked
stretch of riverbank
almost eighty miles away

his wife is with her boyfriend
when the news
makes its way back home

even now
the possibilities for joy
                   are endless





Monday, June 16, 2014

the refusal




shoot the doctor in the
back as he walks away then
tell him he’s a coward while he
dies at your feet

it’s an addiction,
like humor
 
it’s a punchline

you capture the soldier, a
boy of fifteen or sixteen, and
then you torture that fucker
until he’s on the floor in a
pool of his own shit and blood

this is how wars are won

make your children
understand this

tell them how much you hated
your own father,
how much he hated you

show them the scars

explain how they can only
grow up to
repeat your mistakes





Friday, June 13, 2014

for dawn





knowledge and despair







sincerity







man on fire in
the street holds his
son tightly

confuses love and
hate like a
woman i used to know
 
says all pain is
meant to be shared

says silence is
a gift

nothing left of the
child but
ash and bone





Saturday, June 07, 2014

excerpts from NOTES FOR MAGELLAN'S DAUGHTER




* *
 
endless unnumbered pages in the
book of pain and it’s here where you
write your truths and it’s here
you are written on

wars
  yes
and the more complex atrocities
                             of one-on-one

cupped hands
overflowing with blood

take her money
then dig a shallow grave
 
another child’s mother
buried alive
 
a small chapter no one
ever remembers








* *




tongue tied in
holy knots w/
eyes almost
blind he is not
speaking to god
he is not
speaking at all is
not sleeping but
dreaming is not
awake but
falling and he
is standing at
the edge of the
highway and
he is laughing
and she is
almost she is
getting into
the car she is
smiling and
she is crying
and she is
driving away
with the rest
of his life