Book o’ Verse

The pencil they gave me
was covered with paint. I scraped at it.
Artisan, whole-leaf paint chips
dropped off
in spidery clumps.
And now I can see, it is an artisan pencil.
Made by a man in the mountains of … Read on Macduff...

do you remember being a goose?
do you remember flying in pairs
your neck pulled long and straight
warm feathering into the wind
your boney beak bobbing
far out in front to beats
pulsed sideways
by your partner’s heart?

Is it enough
to call the water
black to talk about
the swirls, the crack in
the floor of this Bay

That steams up
sleep evaporating
soaking into
a newspaper headline
till it has mighty heft

Is now a good 

“The eye of the storm
never hit land
although obviously the eye wall did.”
Obviously.
Like now we’re all supposed to know what an “eye wall” is.
Meanwhile: I’m having these dreams
where Mr. Roarke was originally
Tattoo and he’s … Read on Macduff...

Some say “no one should suffer simply because they have chosen to fall in love.”
But I’m not certain I agree.
Surely someone should suffer.
Surely. Someone should suffer simply.
Because they have chosen to fall.
But perhaps no one … Read on Macduff...

Thank you for the strut
even though I know
it wasn’t
intended
for me.

Pity poor Pol Pot’s cat.
Hitler’s hamster.
Fed by this thing.
Stroked by this thing.
By this skin
those nails
they scratch
that spot.
Pity poor Pol Pot’s cat.

Other people have smaller fingers
slender grave pincers
and they move fragments around.
The smallest
reposition dust to achieve a fine result.
Not children. I’m not
talking about children or
woodland creatures.
Other grown ups.
Living in crash pads
with … Read on Macduff...

Wet ride this morning.
Chalk bricks trying to absorb
pulling it in cold wood
old wood.
Paper mats.
His wet feet uncovered, yes?
Flat cats lick his feet.
Vapor socks.
Lick sneaker pump.
Lick vapor swoosh.
And those feet stir.… Read on Macduff...

held with small fingers
slips of bone
sometimes lose their names
change hue
as six dead gerbils shade
to four black mice
as two turtles become a snake
and goldfish replicate.