Gods Eat My Face

gods eat my face
my face gods eat
gods my face eat
face my gods eat
eat face my gods
gods my eat face
my gods eat face
my gods face eat
face gods eat my
eat face gods my
gods eat face my
my eat gods face
gods face eat my
face eat gods my
eat gods face my
eat my face gods
eat my gods face
face gods my eat
face eat my gods
face my eat gods
gods face my eat
my eat     face gods
my face     eat gods
eat gods     my face

The first line of this poem was a graffito I saw on a wall in south Berkeley.


from Thebes (1991)

The Bed

the squid with the woman's face is on the ceiling again
she sets one of the tentacles into her mouth and licks then
sucks it all the way in and the ceiling implodes
rather than go with it i watch     
an amalgam of colors and shapes
dull at first going brighter later     
i reach up with both arms
pull her down onto my face slip
my tongue into the gap of the cosmos
i have just seen and we are borne up
to the bed where i am suddenly alone 
and the shapes of the ceiling will not focus     
i cannot focus on her face or remember it
from what must be previous lives     the room
has become my body and what i see on the ceiling
i also feel and am     i long for such as she is
i close my eyes maybe the image will come in better

green grow the lilacs
i'll show them to you
green grow the lilacs
i'll show them to you

now the bed has widened into a vast white desert in japan
i am digging through the sand for the seven blue potshards
that i can build again into my soul
i have four of them already
the others are within inches of my body
i will find them i will build us up again
both of us

green grow the lilacs
i'll shw them to you
green grow the lilacs
i'll show them to you

from Thebes (1991)

from The Children's Hour

between when     comes that
i hear the patter and the voices
the sound from my descending

the grave alice and edith a whisper
yet i they are

a sudden!     a sudden!
to take to take they enter they climb
they seem their arms
descending the sound from mouse tower
oe'r i a sudden and voices
the grave     a sudden
grave     oe'r i
tell i     their arms
they     seem
oe'r i
the grave
descending

from Thebes (1991)

Earn Big Money Just Weeks From Now

more and more people
are drudgery
independent
one     with
repair

more and more things are
made of these days
observed     everywhere
peeling     chairs
wherever you     there's vinyl

CHORUS:
i like being in charge of my TIME!
i also work part TIME as a teacher!
i want to be able to spend TIME
with my children!
the business has allowed me the opportunity and
TIME
to work at home and still spend TIME
with them!

asked why     he decided
he says     there's a need
actually     most areas
never have enough people

he     works
charges seven dollars per inch
plus fifteen dollars per hour
his latest job so far was the local
three hours to complete

CHORUS:
i like being in charge of my TIME!
i also work part TIME as a teacher!
i want to be able to spend TIME
with my children!
the business has allowed me the opportunity and
TIME
to work at home and still spend TIME
with them!

from The Troubles (1993)

From A Dream

last night i dreamed i was
stuck in a room full of sleeping old men
and that it was the house where i grew up
and that i knew most of them
as my own mediocrities

the moon shown through one long high window
i marvelled at its yellowness before clouds overcame it

i stepped carefully between the men's spread mattresses
mattresses everywhere
these old guys two or three to a mattress
all asleep     half of them snoring
as i tip-toed in the dark until i got to the front door

where the rhythms of their snores
paced the motion of my hand
as i reached for the doorknob in the weird yellow light

there was just enough space     to swing the door open
and stand in the face of the cold alien air
i saw the lawn     the street
the old sycamore that i remember 
from as early as i can remember
how quiet out there     deep three a m
i stepped out closed the door and the cold air took me
the snores seemed so warm     i could smell their breath
and taste their breath in my own mouth even away from them
nothing moved     even the squirrels were asleep
blocks away i could hear a car running

from Auto Bio (2010)