TRANSITORY

The night is filled with weak
and whispery electronic beeps,
the bells and whistles
of an invisible choir.
You get the feeling that
some vast, spider-veined hand
is out there, doing the tapping,
spinning the wheels, finessing
the messages out to those
that need to hear them.
You are not among the chosen
few at the moment, and so
to you, those notes are nothing
but the deranged white noise
of solitude, not quite ready
to let you in, to hear
the final translation…

ORTHODOXY

My throat was stone
when I broke the words
when I broke bread with misgivings
and left them by the wayside
when I formulated the current
and predicted a devastating
flood of one. Leave me be.
I fulfill this empty backwash
I can’t swallow. I am an abandoned
project wallowing in bureaucracy.
I am a sign of the times, a shadow
slowly grading out. I am an ink blot
at the end of a contract never signed,
I am the half-finished condo tower
glinting in the tired sun…

THE TEXT…

flickers, certain as a serpent
yet lags behind the cold-blooded
slow boil of the sun; you may
extract the best test results
like a venomous lozenge
from beneath the tongue
you may say these jaws are open
and call this elixer compromise
but your smile is fixed
and rictus loves to meet itself
at the edges from which
it’s already run…

ASHEN WHIRLPOOL

A blind eye, flushing the icons
from our system, oh, the charcoaled
shadows, the blank window eclipse,
the black-out curtains, the half-painted
headlights that sent the enemy
down an alley full of sight
to the point where our own hands
could reach them…

BATH OF DREAMS

Nothing to worry about.
It’s all as it seems.
The snapshot composite
monolith is crumbling.
Your whispered razor blade
can slit the beast at the seams.
You can barely contain yourself
in the blood that’s begging
to be spilled. You can count
the steps before your lucky break
was broken…

STARE DECISIS

is unbroken, and you couldn’t
look further away from the truth.
Your vacation starts now.
The stakes depend on where
you pin the poisoned-eyed
absolute. I see you gleaming
in last twilight, but it won’t get you
any fast tracks to kingdoms best
left unmentioned. You are a far cry
from common ground, as we stand
by that which has been decided,
and still, you can’t leave the rest behind….

YOUR SCARECROW

casts a crooked shadow.
In the cracked muddy rivulets,
we used to tell time.
You are less than yourself
when you step outside.
The sun runs its’ purpose
and the shade chases fast
and every line you’ve drawn
can be crossed and erased
and forgotten, because
darkness just went past.

AN EMPIRE OF LIBERTY
(for Tecumseh)

When ink can choke an open mouth
when nothing is left to be said
when the forest is ablaze
and the eyes are blackened
and the bullet is hot
and the spine is breaking
when nothing is left to be said
you say these words, “We shall
leave our bones upon them…”

LISTEN FOR ANNOUNCEMENT

The ears are peeled, the mind is blank,
the night is full of the digital
approximation of silence.
We are attending a ceremony
in our honor, but the invites
have been wiped clean.
Come to think of it,
all the labels from my clothing
were neatly snipped out
while I slept, and my driver’s license
now shows a picture of me
missing on a milk carton.
Come to think of it,
I can’t think of it,
and such forward-thinking
leaves me way behind the curve.
I count loose change, and try
to make small talk with strangers,
but then realize I’m not sure
of the language that’s supposed
to leave my lips…

BLACK BOX

The first turned coins of dawn
gleam, a bird song flitters,
and the black box out my window
is slowly opening…

I am less than myself
and more than I want to be
as the edges spread,
and words fall in between…