of a dharma I don't know of, a dharma, I don't know.

Is it the content of this conversation
or the act of having it
that brings our minds down darkened streets.
again?

Again.

The same words we return to. The same prophets.
The same inkling that we both, you and me, the world and I,
this whole goddamned grocery store !

have felt that tremble.

It doesn't matter who we are reading,
or where we travel to, abuse and get abused,
or who we walk beside
that remind us
this street is one way.

as long as we stay reminded
as long as our midnight walks are guided
as long as our shameful fears confided.

uncertain in the truth.
truth in the uncertain.

Friend of my friend,

you are as close to a headache as a splinter has ever come.

Please stop reading us your poetry.

_ _ _ _, please.

Flooded, or The rain has come to wash away our dusty footprints.

Bathed in rain water, christened if you will, all my belongings learn to float.

This is the end of all the things that used to make noise, those things that made me shiver.

Yet its quieter than I expected.

I used to dream of boys in blue. Fleets arriving for some other siren's call. Their lights drawn as they crashed down the staircase, mouths pouting. I always knew I would be running toward them.

asking, sorry, begging,

"no no no, please wait, they are almost finished. don't you understand? can't you see what we are doing?"

but now. its over.

with two inches we can hope for nothing more.

and it was to the tune of a different blue.

how strange,

no sirens, just quiet pitter patter.

If anyone ever objects, let this be remembered

in the bathroom

of a dormitory

she took you in her mouth

I always felt that was strange

not that you were getting head,

you and her, I mean.

we all need to be devoured from time to time,

to have that part of us returned to a womb, especially one that doesn't resemble our mothers

A wet sharp graveyard smelling of alcohol

a place to bury strange nights

or strange hers

I guess there was a time when you too

were unpredictable.

Tissue Suicide

Every time I feel the slight trickle

of liquid down my nose

I shudder and hope

that it is blood instead of mucus.

Disgusted, I wipe away

another failed aneurysm.

My brain has yet to burst.

Happy Birthday

There was time when you didn't exist.

This world was pretty much the same

except you had nothing to do with it.

Now here you are, tearing through

forests with your gnashing jaws

and building a metropolis from the rubble

on the side of suburban streets.

I want to help you celebrate

these everyday accomplishments.

I think that people underestimate

how much courage it takes to wake

up every morning and brush one's teeth

instead of jamming the end of one's

Oral-B Triumph Professional Care 9400

Power Toothbrush

into one's eyeball

and letting the rotating head scramble one's brain.

I want to help you celebrate.

I will drink with you

vile, nasty liquor that we choke down

to prove that we are immune to the element

of water.

I will plug into the outlets with you, our ancient

instruments, and amplify the motions of our gestures.

Our crooning will wake neighbors and summon up

the forgotten lords because we are in control of the element

of fire.

I will clean with you, at the end of the night,

and pick up the merriment we bought.

We will carry the trash outside

and and drop it in its safe place.

We will look up towards the silent sky

and think about what occupies the spaces.

We will feel the wind whip around our faces

as it circles us with time in its palm

because we understand the element of air.

A Wake

They didn't say anything,
just stood and stared
as I floated.

I turned my back, trying to find
the horizon between the slanted
sunlight and the white brick dome.

Inch by inch, I crawled through
frozen water. Beneath the sheen
dark bodies swam and dove

towards the infinite floor.
My legs were numb and my hands
locked firm

onto the gaping flesh
of my sides. I remembered the song
my grandmother used to sing me

when the winds were strong.
"Take the branch and take the bones,
take the fur and bring it home

When the stars fall down to earth
When the moon reveals its birth
We roam, we roam, we roam."