three poems

fizzle puzzle (stream o' consciousnuzzle)

fizzle puzzle, candid stasis
questions of arrangement
followed like the fortunate fifty
broken down to the nearest digit
swallowed whole, identical numbers

free-range pesticide taken to the lungs
straight like a cannon shot or crooked like a tunnel
back to the oily cardboard
damp pavement overlord
by-product: birth control of biblical proportions

rust-free
bottlecap

wasted time
free crap

rip your coat
bubblegum

sunken eye
bingo

struggling with utensils, the yellow jacket authority
questions the utility of sending
a school-age rockstar to hell
dimes with ridges, thrown from bridges
when the catalogue clock strikes three:
fistfight in the morning.


before the sun

peace, sweet peace
before the sun
the snow stopped falling
to sleep

the dog got up
then went back to bed
belly full and dreaming
of another breakfast

my son awakened me
when he crawled beside me
frightened by the horrors
he knows are in the world

but now he sleeps
beside his mother
while I make coffee
before the sun


Instructions to be followed closely

Find a boat with willing sails and put yourself upon it,

give the boat a secret name but never write it down,

test the air with unbendable finger licked by resolute tongue,

drift out over bottomless water, away from all you know.

Cross the sea with skill and care using only wind and stars,
throw the radio overboard and with it all your charts,
after a time when land appears be careful where you choose,
(many adventures end in ways no captain would have wished).

Anchor the boat within a bay while the village is asleep,
slip from the starboard side at dawn, swim silently to the shore,
wander past the darkened homes until you find a path,
follow it to a field beyond the reach of human eyes.

Sit down underneath the sky that’s darkening above,
know that you were never more than everyone you loved,
this is where you’ll ever rest, the world won’t be the same,
lay your heart down in the grass and cover it with rain.