Free

In a hot kITCHen
CATch the fASt ketchup
beFoRE thE cat's
BrEAkfaST
 
awaKENness runs
inTOdaY's childhood's
WONDER
 

from Yew Nork (2014)

Midtown Ride

two nights ago i was ahead of myself
the woman     lake like a horizon
to my left was guiding spirits after two years of chaos
had gotten caught just below my left eyebrow

i dreamt i was on a bus
fish had been flying overhead they had a great view
holiday lights and i became myself
looks a little like manhattan up there

	i’m switching guardian spirits after two years
	of what must have been an elaborate passage
	her hooks     whose profile looked a little
	more like mine in the mirror
	i could understand that one
	it was just me outside the window looking back in

from Yew Nork (2014)

Puncture Wounds

you wonder who’s been looking over your shoulder
when you realize that the toothmarks on your shoulder are yours

the wounds will have begun to fester
by the time you realize this

and how long that audible breathing
that sounds like it comes out of your lungs
but you swear is not your own
how long has that been going on?

why     is the reek 
of that breath     so familiar?

don’t say that it’s coming past your ear
from behind you

right after that you notice
the necklace of teeth across your chest
and you wonder how those toothmarks
got all the way
to your shoulder

from Yew Nork (2014)

Reminds Me of Sleepy and a Place to Bury Yourself In

mouth     open ear     tympani
in their music the crackling even the upstairs of the street
the dumped     the abandoned     the begiggled
the grizzled automata their singing grown to garbage can level
song of lost teeth     tone of tattered accompaniment
code’s other door opened     no dealer card visible

the shy     agony     of light
the dawned men up from the sidewalk
prostitutes of fortune     creatures of bow and arrow
animal feed aimed at everybody’s mouth
it gets that way sometimes
use these sunglasses to visit our carnival
i can hear a ritual desert approaching

reminds me of geophysical neurosis and 
growing up a short distance
	a frantic grandfather’s house
	a short-handled meal to anyone who looks
they’ve done the district and it looks like a young woman i once knew
the first time i saw it it just stopped     winked
nowhere near as fine as peasants being restored
reminds me of very little half a block ago
	echo code door opened
	that short sharp noise again
reminds me of a footprint my dog found in pompeii
the whole district discovering the power
when everybody puts their forefingers together
and hums

from Yew Nork (2014)