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RABBITS
the briars explode
and the rabbit crematorium glows
in a fertile senseless light
with trembling grins
and safety pins
as worn-out as the night
no one thought to hook the sun
as it crumbled to the porch
deserting the toasted landscape.
[the gathered deadwood,
the tumbling torch goes down]
we did it and didn't wait.
don't wait--never wait
you can always get it back
even if our footprints
are seldom on the track
let go:
they're easy to follow:
sharp as a credit card
sliding down the door
until finally we remember
what we killed the rabbits for.
GUNRACK
this is the gunrack
where my mouth hangs open
over a fireplace of brick red syllables.
never a hunter,
my grandfather said--
put your ear to the ground
(pretending to be a tracker)
and you will hear new rocks
singing in the
middle of the earth.
EYE ABOVE
Along the waters of
the gate
on horseback it would sit and wait,
attention revolving against the drum
of a musicbox mechanism
Inner ear tonal decay
showers the experience with playing cards
that flutter down on the table,
landing in a
pattern
only drunken pilots know.
Paddle your
kayak faster
because that roaring is approaching.
Sitting in the bathroom dark
with my head under the stinking sink
reaching for
the eye
under the floorboards.
RUNNING IN PLACE
Standing in the shower
stall
alone until the water runs out.
Running in place
the cat jumped across my face
and woke me like a shot--
I know because
there were crosshairs on my glasses
when I put them on.
HUNG ON THE LINE
take me off
like I was alive
and ready for that steady dive
into the pool
sliding a knife into the washing
it was as if no one ever made it back
no one ever came out of the woods
sitting on the big rock
and smoking those first smokes
turning green and dizzy
as tight as they were,
her jeans faded sympathetically.
grace, the cornerstone of this building,
attaches itself to the air
and, with rivets,
to the wind.
LA BAS REVISITED
down there,
where the word crawls on its belly
and on rails into the subways
sometimes when the train stops between stations
I imagine the dirty darkened alcoves
gouged from the loud tunnels
are filled with deception
and necklaces of human fingers
still twitching and running through your hair
not natural,
not normal,
not organic
as if dark was a word
that would leap up
and chew at the throat
with sweet, acidic teeth of decay
biting through my outside skin
perhaps my inside skin will stop it
TREATY
when she looked up
there was blood in her eyes
blood from the robot tunnels
where our whims would collide sideways
and together always
lying cupped
like holding a cooked egg
while you sing straightarmed
to expression
thoughts ran on single rails
iron snails waiting to erode
he hit her again
until she fell down the stairs
gun shy brain proud
that lion screaming out loud
get out of the way
that evil fucking monorail
one thought,
straight on
mcdonalds lighting
in the robot tunnels
underneath the pity
where the salt mines grow.
occasionally
a magazine piece
will reveal her father's drawn face
as he chisels out the name of Lot's wife
the wind sucking at his sleeves
makes a raspy resonant sound
that delays my delight at seeing you.
above on the lake
lying back in the boat
the words rising in your throat
an unevenness in the tint of the organism
suggests a complex sin
she cannot continue
as a treaty to be broken again and again
by strangers who step off curbs without looking.
LISTENING
We were listening
to the older gods
on the pentagramophone
sitting in the x-ray room
of our parents' home.
So you can remove my name
from the book of things undone
I'm coalescing now
and the music has begun.
WORM FARMER
as annoyed as we get
by what we do
the things that happen
through and through through
the arm, the needle, the eye,
the bone horse chick gun goat
and small sets of deadly lies
sets of equations
columns of statistics
this untangled revisionist crap
as sensitive as grapes to humidity
saturn's children count the rings
the smoke,
the formless things
tangled in the dirt and sky.
CONTINUOUS MARK
Just as slowly
as the window takes to close
or simply,
like a first look,
my only poison
is this continuous mark
beating against the back of my eyes.
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