Compare But Only Behind

i'll hold it in uses its brain
sing hymns to a basketball
treat it     blue eyes and
as my own with psychiatrists
when it hears country and western ballads

and never got fixtures humming

i'll marry it and to mandalay
maybe it fits right under your pantleg

i need a heart
regular
never bleeding
i'll name it pants are loose enough
and in its tropics
i'll compare drink enough saxophone to find out
but only behind vomit passenger ships
whenever you think of her
and talk about the road to mandalay

the road to mandalay
where the frozen dinners play

as if i were     dogs
mouth shrinks it has blue eyes and
uses its brain for a basketball
dogs     that have more taste
not above more taste
i need heart fixtures humming
electrical like a vein called back
regular     the road's about to go off
sing hymns to treat it
as my arm

originally published in The Flying Dog (1993)