I refused him the keys
not knowing how to be older than 13
I gambled with not getting older than 13
not knowing how sheer the face was
I let the mountain slide by indestructible and complete
not knowing the finality the rush the slam of inertia
I dreamed I was a fish in the air
not knowing the cyborg touch of […]
Spinning clicks of combines have dispersed into ash and chaff
and red-rusted handles.
They sit in a row, lining a corn field
that will never feel them again. Around their flat tires, cows eat
brown grass made autumn leaf orange by rust and midday sun,
chewing their lips into smiles.
On a two lane road, Amish pass
me in a caravan […]
Let’s disappear, Barbara,
in a giant whoosh of flame
and look back and laugh
at the scribble of our smoke trail.
For once, let’s not answer
the questions at the end of the chapter,
or even phone in to work,
but just climb the twisted ladder
of bones and shadows,
and if we must get somewhere,
let’s do it secretly
like your lost gold earring.
~ Howie […]
I will say
though I was bent
near to breaking
I learned my spine
is like the blades of wheat
when rains come and come
and the plaited grains swell
with heaviness
and the thin stalks
can no longer hold aloft
their heads
and they surrender
bow low to the ground
old guido would say
the crops have lain down
still,
the threshers come
still, there is a harvest
there is bread rising
beneath […]
she sings
like a mild lute,
as if peace tuned
her arpeggios.
i don’t know
who fashioned this nymph,
or how she
dispels a latticework
of chirps
to lullaby
in gracious tones-
or why each note
strolls a different hall
of memory,
inlays a sensation
of pure touch, my body
hostage to dulcet phrase-
trill of a gypsy
i never knew,
though trees hoard
her jewelled sighs-
why now
will i melt into delight-
that ancient sensual
immersion?
~ Chris […]
