Fox Eyes in the Night Sky

they aren't stars   they're bright pairs of eyes
looking back at you   packs of them
the fox ears and black noses hidden
in the night sky

but where are their paws?
is it one of them we're walking on
or do several   half-hid in water
move the planet?

when they see me
i wonder if they're indifferent
thinking i'm too small to eat

or if i'm somehow growing   as my ears enlarge with age
and my teeth lengthen
and they're waiting   for my ears to point
my teeth to grow longer and sharpen
the skin on my nose
to moisten and sensitize
and for me   to one morning awaken in darkness
look down   fascinated
and be part of the pack
part of their pack
part of a pack

from Purgatorial (2004)

Change Poem

money changes hands
into what?

What Saw

art is large floors
brought to crowds and workshops

three exhibits attract films   seasons
art along influences

it was heart orphanage

yet another canonization

calamity of downtown royalty

survivor house

   and you must walk through the showroom
   grew up to be a new york journalist
   thousands of immigrants arrived
   i see their eyes   through eyes of my own
   the long deep line at the edge of the sea
   a young divorcee called civic duty

from Purgatorial (2004)

The Ancient Wine After Forty

being representative of than you expect
the flying pig demons?
the mouth goes middle age
overpassed     its roar off the top of your head
where they raise     on your back
sophistry

animal are you?
naked

have to do with alcohol
have to do with sex
over all the twirl

for paranoids
romance is stolen by young couples
whom you subliminally hate

the mouth left of thanatos
someone marked taking knit flags
someone else
love built as strong as
nation     at will
will probably never find that house

are sold with streets
imagining a curly forked tail
growing off your ass

at will     not ghosts
in love with forked and twirling streets
will find     yes     will find
that house

from Purgatorial(2004)

the cowardice of sleep

the cowardice of sleep
the bravery of dreams

from Purgatorial (2004)

Blues Sonnet

i like it     it becomes you
like sainthood     like a hangover

draped over your shoulder
over your eyebrows over your smile
a sense of inside your soul

the bus ride of theory
the laundry traveling to where you live
skeletons at the bar     playing dice at dusk

   so show me it doesn't have to be bleakness
   the wink of sainthood
   it becomes you
   like a silvered     shadow over your shadow
   like a drink of water
   like the glisten of wet teeth

from Purgatorial (2004)

The Terror

beware of bridges
voles    elephants stampeding around them
men riding on the heads of delirious tigers
feel bitter    uh    feel bitter    uh

people can't bring themselves to fly    around this wreck
past large guards    who carry pitchforks    watering cans
the blueprints of post-siberian walls
the living caskets of eggs
and wish only for a radiator sandwich
an air-conditioned malt

    what if    yesterday
    you saw everything you ever loved
    riding the soft spikes    of a dandelion?

    would you dream which river of wind
    would carry them and where they would go?
    would you wish for a small    small    canoe?

from Purgatorial (1994)

HP Lovecraft Views the Mona Lisa

a year ago that smile
i thought they'd painted onto you
seemed stale
like breath trapped inside a museum

i thought it was paint
but months' obsession abscessed in me
and i felt unwhole
unholy

    as if pieces of my soul
    were fitted into your mouth
    with chunks from souls of other centuries

    making your smile fuller
    deeper     more mysterious
    and hungrier

from Purgatorial (2004)

His Story Lesson

why should i
identify
my salami with the ancient romans

when i can identify it with italy
beautiful peaceful italy
all the many many miles of it?

from Purgatorial (2004)

In My Dream I Threw

in my dream i threw
the alarm clock away

it went hurtling through space
at my head








from The Troubles (1993)

Gangsta Nietzsche

you can not conduct yourself in sanctuary like a saint
the blood goes off in your ears like bullets
your hand muscles squeeze
the neck of your newspaper's brain
to incoherent wrinkles
you     the anger cocaining you
you are superman without philosophy
your flight     you would have
is under the earth
conducted chilled without breathing

i dreamed
last night
that from the sidewalk i dove and flew
above the heads of businessmen
that gravity did not stop me
that friction did not tire me
that i looked up and saw the sky and soared
amongst its blue and the clarity of its clouds

you     who would die in this
pile of superman shit:
that your whole trip
is to learn to fall down
that your death
is rapidfire and energizing
is bullshit
you     who will be present
at your own funeral






fro The Troubles (1993)

Your

j'annuary
fay brew airy
m'arch
ape rill
m'hey
jeune
jewel eye
a gust
say ptember
oxed over
no vember
this ember





from Purgatorial (2004)

A New Ring

last night the phone company came to the door
they were twelve hours late and at least a century behind

dry hay     opaque
grew out from under their sleeves

they lined up along the walkway     down the street
rings came out of their ears     tears out of their mouths

down the street     under a car     church bells rang
lost pinecones fell asleep
the doors in my head opened and shut
all the voices i'd ever heard in my life
rang in the new year






from Purgatorial (2004)

Ant Dreams

open your window to the wind
cats outside and
polar bear morning

send your darkness in boxes to the city
eyes in parade will continue
ant dreams
clocks remain

send your darkness
to the city
this is the city
this is the city
this is the city








from The Troubles (1993)

Trees In The Pasture (for Judy)

if i were in a high place
where gold shivered like money mattered
and eyes     shone
in incoming headlights
and people driving by looked low
and sneered

if my calendar
were stuck on one day
and were illustrated only
with black paper

if your halo
were seen bright as a hubcap
encircled with rhinestones
and a drop     of black velvet
were behind all paintings of you

if seeing the world
were an organized religion

if chickens
spoke english
but never spoke to us

i would not have met you
even in a high place
would not even have dreamed of you






from The Troubles (1993)

National Anthem

the world's     country
stretches
from east to west
and extends southward

its seacoast     mainland
miles of islands

climates
while generally     varies
a range

cities
centers
regions
and population are situated

is virtually uninhabitable






from The Troubles (1993)

The Scream

i've left it in there for now
with my teeth

somewhere inside
where alligators are tearing it up

please understand i do not want this scream
to be left for posterity

the points
of this scream
are too mean to be covered by anybody's hand

it bellows inside me
i will not let it at you
until i know it can cut you down








from The Troubles (1993)

Reported Dreams

the third baseman of car lights
mother's other toe
reported dreams
nightmare problems
this neighborhood

the excitement of used lightning
she asked me
cleaners at four
this night this slice of
these streets are dangerous / backsliding
becoming me
there was no romance in this
still committed into bookstore
now even get it together     where?     how?
just something waiting for us
saw it in her eyes
perception of reality the night if only by a little
rainstorm home

she asked me if i could walk her one block home
this night this slice of foggy streetlights
still committed jurisdiction of the courts
there was no romance in this
and the streetlights weren't overtly scary
just something     waiting for us

the fortune cookie fortune says:
when you have to deal with something
deal with it

i could see it in his eyes
has claws and waits for you     just you
around a corner of your building     and like it
oh     how     killer

abstracted as pass the salt

gotta stop that     line drive
where? in one of the most beautiful cities on earth
rainstorm diets fade the bookstore perception of reality
killers roam streetwise            dip long fingers
into public wells of abstract knowledge black lace and headlights
coming at you like a line drive
the third baseman of car lights
gotta stop it     throw     him     out

in some persons this abstract forgetting
what would you call it?
as being part of themselves
lamplight haloes round entire neighborhood
paranoid rage they raise their toothpicks slowly
you know     urban     dangerous and sexy
like erroll flynn
as the walls bleed / killers make lace deep
in imagination /
in severe persons these nightmare problems
the first eight to ten years

when you deal with it
you just deal with it
if only a little sells then perception of night
dwells around your building like suffocation
we see monsters out there but their shadows
go a lot deeper
these haloes     extortion of used roadblocks
they raise them     how would you say?
extreme anxiety     fun at the malt shop
in some persons eight to ten years
and now     you seek     them out

after that     a lot cleaner /
feeling
lightbulbs     come on
in their pants
they walk
zomboid and sexy

you
the perfect escorts







from The Troubles (1993)

sucking your blood

sucking your blood
like reverse gas pump

into his tank
under the tuxedo

dracula
oil






from The Troubles (1993)

Inside the Harbor

in death its eyes were still open
neither one of us could get it to speak true

a small boat of ribs afloat in a blue lake that night
like cats fish massaging against its thighs

the next time i met you
i was directing traffic out of a storefront window
dried fish hung around my head like dead angels
that was seven thousand years ago

i saw you standing in front of the glass
and unzipped the door that was yours
you had with yourself the pleasure craft
you wanted to trade for dragon horn and ginseng

i can still see that light in your eyes
i'm still looking for a cord to that lightbulb

all our boats ride mechanically now
all our fish carry red plastic lanterns








from The Troubles (1993)

The Ban

the ban wasn't them     and many groups are
politicians of power

artists quate security underground
contracts that stated the happy road

will     until no
the board is mental

people could mccarthyism pression

ban on decision?     stabbings?
the light keeps changing
think of me     a lot of people
hurt
it seems someone question:
presence like money
isn't hollow







from The Troubles (1993)

mickey mouse's nose

mickey mouse's       nose
opens up a missle nose appears
his voice gets deeper     pointlessly as
one sees sharp teeth
he gets down on all fours
wheels sprout
the voice threatens
the little red pants splotch insignia
everybody salutes

we have spent billions for this
and picnic our children on a hillside to watch
they play with their plastic cartoon characters
there is wind in the trees
the monster below us spins tries to keep up
its wheels seem mudproof
the crowd applauds
this circling






from The Troubles (1993)

Political Hope Poem

is
the building has to offer and
inhospitable weather

hand on the roof i know is no
is
turned to iron has to wink
a tyger's eye

the rest of this foreign see stormy
born     is
and the golden age of drink
taste water     flavor
and the fourth consecutive increase
the roof's monotony

you're back
lightning
you're back
but it was coming anyway






from The Troubles (1993)

After the Street Party

long walk
down the long block
after the street party

can't tell the difference between broken pottery
and the abstracted angles of moonshadowed trees

dinosaurs roam the lawns
in front of castles formed by moonlight
still you keep walking

     all of the street barriers disappeared at nightfall
     none of the common-sense predictions came true
     at the end of the block there's a new park
     you can see it now     dusk's mists are gone
     the party is history     important as any
     the name of the park is yet to be recorded







(2012)

Influenza

all the doctors of the world
have come to your bedside
to analyze your influenza
they gather like flies at a stadium
to watch the game
discuss
concur
and shrug:
given the choice
the body chooses to remain fat
the great men rise and shake hands
promise to use the money
to study warfare on the moon
pose for photographers:
dragging their dead chickens after them
the doctors file into the street







from The Troubles (1993)

Sign of Belonging

excuse me for a
                  fly in the window
and an hour before the bus takes off
should i wear my curly wig?
will that stop the fire in the mountains?
alfred packer built a good car
but the muzak on the rock station
being beaten by his father
                  horrible        that's ridiculous
let's pose
the fly's walking the sill outside the window trying
to get in
and people are looking
                              drinking coffee
still an hour before the bus takes off
couple walking out of the cafe
matching blue shoes
shows they bought them together
though hers are dirty now
his clean        a sign of belonging
still an hour






from The Troubles (1993)

Abstractions

i have drunk my own blues

i am drunk on them and your fury

i hate it that you may get killed
for no reason by a hand so like yours
that it might as well be your own

i hate it that you've made a wreck of your life
that you subvert your own fury with your own
ultimate silence

i hate it that your own dead body
shot or coked out
may lie on my doorstep or feet from it

i hate it that you may cause my death
as stupidly as you cause your own

i hate it that people glory in this







from The Troubles (1993)