1. |
9:27a.m., 7/29
02:21
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Nine-twenty-seven a.m., seven/twenty nine,
anyone listening want a brain washed like mine?
JACKAL (in the sheep flock):
shadow on the vine!
HONEY (from the cleft rock):
better luck next time.
Lock jawed glass rat, Psalter seventeen
w/ functional addiction to altars of the May Queen
half clear ghost [name chemical] appears
in the hollow of a cow’s horn buried in a grainfield
(as that wondrous hour draws near)
one day they’ll find us,
feathers on a tiger’s body
quiet as a clear blue glacier lake
Ploughshares gone swords, we were the scourge of the earth
offerings unpoured, unliturgical drink
it’d be a pearl of a time now for a virgin birth
& it happens more often than you might think.
9:28 a.m., low in the phosphorous lights
of lonesome days & parthenogenetic nights
you became the glowing letters of a red sign:
“BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME”
better luck next time.
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2. |
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Today, a thousand years
of strained affection and prayer
“out beyond ideas
of right & wrong is a field”
Will I meet you there?
The summer garden blooms
with autumn soon replaced
another harvest moon---
so many ways to lose
so many faiths.
‘Holy to the LORD’ on the bells of horses,
safely on the shore, we sank like stones
to the bottom of a made up ocean
Standing on the lake shore, Julia,
silent as a seashell Julia
magnet of the elk park Julia
laid down on the Temple floor
“Send a couple rats,” said Julia
I’d have done the same thing to you
Coffee and a milk, now Julia
who do you think needs who more?
In case your plan falls through
to mispronounce my name,
[static between me and that Salafi, Yusef]
to curse You-Don’t-Know-Who
and bow before the same
[so was the scene at al-Aqsa,]
I’ll meet you there.
[I have to admit, I loved the cut of his pant legs!]
another lovely afternoon for Sūrat al-Kāfirūn
‘Holy to the LORD’ on the bells of horses
Safely on the shore, we sank like stones
to the bottom of a made up ocean
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3. |
Another Head for Hydra
02:43
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RAINBOW CASTLE: Brown bird, common bird--
How’s your little twig nest been?
BROWNBIRD: I heard you searched the hollow earth,
have you finally found your long lost friend?
Endless words of “a dream deferred”
wouldn’t have you look my way
so I made the rounds in Germantown,
they could barely taste my pancreas that day.
It’s the 28th Will,
the lucky 8th, Bill!
you win that grammy, Will?
Good for the landfill!
...and did you beat Phil?
...and did you network well?
[So grew another head for Hydra]
you wanna circle Sinai another 40 years?
have I made myself?
and myself clear?
still seduced by the child celebrity appeal?
have I made myself?
and myself clear?
Brown eyes, brown eyes,
what do you see?
BROWN EYES: Brown eyes
of an adult looking back at me.
Brown eyes, brown eyes,
what do you see?
BROWN EYES: Hazel eyes &
a caterpillar book on my knee.
And now you’re gonna explain to me
about resilience and fragility?
circling Sinai another 40 years?
have I made myself? and myself clear?
let’s watch the desert sky--do silent shapes appear?
have I made myself in any way myself?
you hold your children close whenever we come near?
speak in children’s prose for those with ears to hear?
You in the diving bell, atop the silver skyline
play the victim well--
who’s the devil this time?
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4. |
[dormouse sighs]
04:14
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[Brighter days, whiter painted graves
under Idaho sky set to roadside attraction prayer]
SANSEVIERIA: Traveling where the trains will?
BURNING BOOKS: To Gainesville.
[one turning, looks in semicircles] Lies!
SANSEVIERIA: Have a little decency and time to kill?
BLUEBIRD [on a branch]:
Unpromised land!
[DORMOUSE sighs]
the avalanche of sadness!
of untied strange commands
as symbols on their hands, now stored on foreheads!
How concerned with unsubstantial terms
and turns of circumstance…[etc.]
LITTLE LAMB: Before the day is done
my prince is gonna come
JOSEPHINE FOSTER:
Ye winged seraphs fly, bear the news
with loud and joyful cry
SANSEVIERIA:
Boys with nothing left to lose?
NIKOLAI VOLKOFF [in Croatian muffin hat]:
Bridal shoes a birthright--
child of the Ephraimites!
not quite prepared to speak right--
SANSEVIERIA:
or sleep well with how well we sleep at night?
BLUEBIRD [outside door]:
Mating rights secured.
LAMBS: [w/ best attempts to keep themselves warm]
A toast to all we’re meant for!
[withhold details of West Virginia highwayside]
LITTLE LAMB: Before the day is done
my prince is gonna come
BURNING BOOKS: Fire and a flood,
there’s power in the blood
of every little lamb
wonderworking power
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5. |
Winter Solstice
03:52
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Winter solstice, the earth open wide
with a heart crushed like footsteps in snow
(((fictitious persons disclaimers implied
to all listening from rooftops below)))
it had rained and the air was like perfume outside
as the sky changed
we began when the ground was still dry
planting vineyards where vineyards don’t grow
shaping cypress with pitch on both sides
for the nights when our trumpets won’t blow
that regret still there circling like vultures inside
as your face changed?
They don’t stay inside.
(there but for Thy grace go I...)
through the eyes of machines, immaculate scenes
that had already passed me by
all the stars on the ground, Noah’s ark in the clouds
set sail in the flood of my mind,
the other animals drowned in blasphemous towns
and asked as they passed me by:
“was to do as I please a European disease?”
Winter solstice, the earth had closed down,
so with breastplates of righteousness low
searched for streams in the caves underground
where the Baptists and bootleggers go
and you smile but your vampire complexion still shows
and your past shows.
it’s really all that shows.
(so often unrecognizably so)
through the eyes of machines viewed immaculate scenes
that had already passed me by
all the stars on the ground, Noah’s ark in the clouds
but the thought in the back of my mind:
“does my misery feed a metaphysical need
that’s long since passed me by,
neither reasoning why
nor offering reply?”
dear my newlywed wife,
you’re not the love of my life,
it had already passed me by---
finally grasping the line
casting pearls before swine?
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6. |
Flee, Thou Matadors!
04:57
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FERDINAND [VIII]:
You the coverclouds in a midnight sky
I, a little snowflake waxwing high
erring on the delicate side:
who can mark the hour our soul sick friendships die?
MARIA [the pious]:
ever felt like Noah on an overcast day?
David, take down your harp and play.
FERDINAND:
You hatched your little plan when the first fell through?
the wicked in you ran, though none pursued!
MARIA:
You’re toeing a precarious line.
[momentary taste of almost unmediated mind]
silk shirt for a sackcloth king---
David, take down your harp and sing!
FERDINAND:
Clockwork drama in a Josten’s ring
ever on the verge of catastrophe…
***************************
King of Spain, Queen of Portugal
***************************
MARIA [the mad]:
I ran to the sea but the sea wouldn’t hide me,
the oceans agree there was no one to hide!
will my story give way to the weight of its gravity?
~self-appointed-cop-spokesman-of-the-end-times~
FERDINAND [to the smell of blood]:
knockneed step and a bent-back spine,
no sense of direction besides...
MARIA [unfazed]:
patterns in the clouds over lake Cascade!
message in the sounds of the Air Force planes!
[offers claims on an extravagant scale in
elaborate (if laminated poster board) display about chemtrails]
Tinky’s harp on the wall next to Janis Joplin!
FERDINAND [intoxicated with purple]:
Man, I coulda sworn that I saw
the cosmos in the livestock straw...
MARIA [neither pious nor deranged]:
Early cartography sea creature dragon and all?
****************
King of Spain, our songs proclaim
that you’re Queen of Portugal
King of Spain, our prayers in vain
till you’re Queen of Portugal
Owls now sail toward seas of Africa
---flee, thou matadors!
courts of dandelions,
wars of Oranges have conquered us!
****************
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7. |
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Watchmen w/ their eyes closed, ransom and a scripture by the picture of your face,
messages the rhymes chose, blueprint for contrition in a cigarette case
Everybody knows, son.
everybody knows what you’ve done.
Everybody knows, son
everybody knows exactly what you’ve done.
Charles was alive then, towering like a mountain at the silver trumpet blast
William still alive till when our altars are all emptied of his offerings to the last
Everybody knows, son.
everybody knows just what you’ve done.
Everybody knows, son
and so again it goes you can’t end what you’ve begun
Surely as the sun early on the east side comes
before my sleepless eyes your features metamorphosize
Surely as the sun early on the east side comes
If only you had known how soon you’d be on your own,
how suddenly they’d cast the stone
When the mouths of praise and blame start to sound the same,
and you’ve asked they please not come back around
& yet they happen by, you can offer my reply:
“there’s tortoises all the way down.”
since the night you came dressed up in your righteous name
all you claim to see doesn’t mean a thing to me.
Surely as the sun early on the east side comes,
I know I’m not the only one
whose blindfold-and-a-scale-ship refused to sail
and yet failed since each search for solid ground
You sing to me at night as the moving finger writes
on tortoises all the way down
you think that glass of wine could cancel half a line?
but it won’t wash our words out this time
& I’m not the only one who’s got nowhere to run
cause everybody knows, son.
everybody knows just what you’ve done.
Everybody knows, son
everybody knows what you’ve done.
while all hiding inside our painting-of-a-house-hung-up-inside- that same-painted-house-which-ever-implies-another-painted-house-inside lives,
serpent-in-the-sky-lives!
servants-of-the-least-high!
most-tortoiseless lives!
would you meet me sometime soon, son, down by the riverside?
there’s room enough in my paradise,
my empty little mind
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8. |
2,459 Miles
02:26
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Living two-thousand-four-hundred fifty-nine miles from home
when again that line from Eleanor Rigby cuts me to the bone
I’ve read “the Lord God said it is not good for man to be alone”
but you can leave me anytime.
Some damage done, we left for London with the sun low in the sky
to let St. Edward fix us breakfast if not otherwise obliged
to drown in doubts the future needs us, if by chance it should arrive
you can leave me anytime.
Eight sleepless days the scales of Libra weighed the stars to my design
I looked around inside and all I saw were unsympathetic eyes
I’ll tear my shirts and shatter windows, do my best to act surprised
if you leave me anytime,
you can leave me anytime.
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9. |
Wendy & Betsy
02:11
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WENDY: Signs of contemptible times!
BETSY: You still dance with an arm to your side?
WENDY: Our hands to be empty & still
asleep on the windowsill if it be your will--
BETSY: Is last winter's prize winning
Norwegian Forest outside!?
Could I try on your lilac dress?
Wendy? {{{light of my life!}}}}
(and you know the rest)
so I take from your stare,
you’ve got a lesson in there?
WENDY: Well they say the Institute made
a perfected replica blade for the Ancient of Days
BETSY: While you dial the priest I’ll tell Princess to try the police--
WENDY: We could start the 3rd World War!
BETSY: But then what good would scripture be for?
[An absence of calm in the air as the temperature fell
on the new concierge at the Carriage Hotel]
WENDY: Word has it the younger McKim girl’s not well...
BETSY: ...you remember that story with the mermaid and the actor?
WENDY: Betsy, the bones of the prophets we saw!
the mob throwing stones at the Bethlehem wall!
BETSY: [in grandiose tones, raising right paw
in Jacques Louis David Tennis Court Oath gesture]
All joking aside, five fingers wide,
should the bed of the bride be despair
tell your parents it’s true,
though I’d never physically hurt you,
I do know some Arabic prayers
but I left what was left of my self-respect
like a Swiss army knife on the ground
and a pocket of coins at the IDF checkpoint
by what some call ‘the Temple Mount.’
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10. |
New Wine, New Skins
04:44
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If God wills this time tomorrow, bound for Boise via plane
(willful mispronunciation of my destination’s name)
I’d like to write a sequel to “the State That I am in” [sic]
If God wills this time tomorrow in the early morning rain
I’ll unpack the boots I borrowed and turn back the way I came
I’d like to write a sequel to “the State I am in”
and I’d like to call the song New Wine, New Skins
“God’s will” or “come what fortune gives”---
or is this truly how you’d choose to live:
managing the narrative?
Come, unfastening android limbs
in the moonlight through translucent skin
now we’ve both been there and back again,
to the state that I’m no longer in
with carbon fiber lips whereby
came thought reflex personified
now a scorpion in the sky, harmless as a butterfly
SCORPION [a Smiths fan]: You can pin and mount me likewise!
If you fail first, some warm, bright day
I’ll unperform at your unmarked grave,
and you can tell me what those eyes have seen
but for now the Creek-don’t-rise routine
with churning engine, fix my head
up north in the Gold Fork riverbed
from the misuse of intelligence
and all I wish I’d said pours out
new wine, new skins
“God’s will” or “come what fortune gives”
or is this truly how you’d choose to live?
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11. |
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Ring them bells, Peter ring them bells
wonder where’s my mother been?
floatin’ above that world of sin?
wearing that cardboard sign again?
Ring them bells, Peter ring them bells
Wonder who’ll my children be?
strangers like their mom and me?
cork spots on the apple tree?
PETER: (not ringing bells)
Some go chasing motorcars,
some rush inward as they are--
--cat tracks on the reservoir.
Orange in the grass, roll away!
Mother McKenzie in the nightshade!
Joshua resurrected Hemingway!
Penny, leaded glass---get away!
Heron of the past with a baked clay!
Truth swans! kaleidoscopic highway!
Michael, won’t you row that boat ashore?
Your little brother can’t paddle anymore!
Another dark star bottled in a bell jar
they say the river runs deep but it’s not wide--
you wanna guess who’s sleeping on the other side?
[Peter, ring them bells]
Harry’s still alive, just fine!
no cancer, now just a little throat line!
[wonder where’ve my friendships gone?]
Craft mines! Our needle of the white pine!
[Peter, ring them bells]
St. James sabbath of the 8th day
still part Rabbit like his uncle A.?
[Lies that I was depending on?]
Andavanay! Andavanay!
[Sister, trim them sails]
Sammy with his daddy in the foxhole,
Voice of a jaguar & a heart of gold
[Boastin’ talk gonna sink my soul]
Michael, row that boat ashore!
[Brother, lend a helping hand]
and if either of our wives need a little time
[But you, poor children, how you gonna land?]
You and I’ll take the kids to the county line
I bet you Sarah knows the place I don’t have in mind.
[what voices you been hearin’
as waters rise and darkness comin’ in?]
Andavanay!!!
Have you heard from heaven today?
tell me then, what’d Gabriel say?
am I still on that narrow way?
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12. |
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Have I established a pattern,
perhaps a bi-annual mental collapse?
and is every day a thousand years
for anyone with ears to hear?
Someday I’ll find me
Can you really make all things new?
I have reason to believe you do,
nothing new,
break on through (to the other side)
[part two].
Someday I’ll find me
if the briar or wheat grow,
cloven tongues of fire aglow
or of snow, bond or free
in whatever you may be
someday I’ll find me
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