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."

Hear Say

"They say Eskimos push their old out on frozen blocks

out into freezing oceans

with nothing but a coat"

"They say the rest of the village stands on the shore

if you can even call it that.

The shore."

"They say no one says a word

not even children,

not even their children."

"They say everyone stands quiet

that deep frozen quiet

humming along to that tundra wind."