Author: G H

fingernails are no match /
for the thick morning air /
blood is a lie /
explained songsingly at birth /
that joy has a cutting price slicing slowly/
taking decades to cleave the body in measured halves /
one for chewing gravel from the family driveway /
one for leaking bodily fluids towards the pacific drainage basin /
where tarantulas shake still /

those halves before us tear us /
towards their own rend /
hoping for the whole they first slept in /
in the dark /
listening to the full thump /
of the world outside

iron ore pellets /
slingshot perfect /
dust grey purple dots /
leaf birch tear /
flat evening water /
skip a cross /
full hands for miles /
across the kashabowie line /
rumbling off cars /
fisting for hundreds of miles /
animal knew better /
than to mouth /
children do not /
small us /
not designed to eat /
earth’s core

one little man’s moon /
hanging over boulevards and crescents /
tied sung to a grandmother’s hair /
handed down on the first birthday /
before candles melt and the alarms ring /
signaling the hazard’s been met /
amongst excited screeching /
and messy mouths staining furniture /

swing the moon out further /
until it breaks the emergency glass /
useful also to scare off strays /
swung in manic circles /
that whistle from the hair spinning /
splits a sensitive ear /

it’s what your grandmother heard /
every other day /
speeding through space /
at the century’s opening /
spreading across a shifting continent

blood on snow is striking /
drench of a falling stain /
webbed drops losing their /
richness in last night’s /
late winter fury /

linger on the sparkle popping /
in random patterns as the head shifts /
the contrast is so pronounced /
bodily drip red and blank inarguable whiteness /

a stinging focus struck pointedly /
tiny twist pulling a canvas down /
the depth of February’s nondescript /
only frames blood’s pinning release

dull nest /
cracked hair /
stroll over light bulbs /
maybe a sun /
on three stilts /

ready for calculations /
lighter than air for any lung /
run away from the meat tally /
we’ll never be in the black /
rings of scarlet flaring behind our necks /

our better angles /
for sharper shadows /
an afterburn glow /
winging through the howling planet rings /

out the in space /
lightlessness waiting for a human hand /
to arrange falling molecules /
in an ideal absence /

what will rub the toes raw /
in hell’s long tickle /
there laugh track strangles conversation /
consuming all oxygen in the most broken moments /
1 paying everything to an invisible audience /
whispering a tattoo of closing reviews

don’t die today /
let alone alone enough to crimson on the say /
gather round melting white to make snow /
old is old fearing say I know /
carry the child to the store in arms /
you know you and ask for quick alarms /
jump on stat for today’s sake /
enough steps walk over the heralded lake /
a commemorative plate to press a head /
love leads love stammering as said /
sleep is silent on this lent ground /
chatter curses in advance the inevitable sound /
blowing the tips of soft fingers /
good god knows better than to linger

wither I /
shrinking capsule in a great /
intestinal wash heaving /
across the concentrated space of this country /

my hand’s wave grows smaller /
hardly picking up the lid /
of a passing infant /
these hands break /
under the weight of a match /

no longer a son /
and none before me /
crawling towards the world’s lip /

better to be lost each day /
fingering for patterns of light /
than accounting for chair legs /
on the wake’s ballroom /

let’s hear it for the pill in the gut /
forgiving form for a spray /
across the universe’s territory /
pinching the noses of all /
the imagined gods /
lying in wait ’til spring /
is the last season

change the light bulb /
it’s not simple twisting the earth /
all wet, sticky and slick /
vibrating at its own alarm /
standing on the moon may /
provide some healthy leverage /
enough to grab it whole /
and feel all that crawling beneath the skin /
takes cycles to unwind /
finally disconnected, floated in darkening space /
a perfected time to say goodbye /
the vaccuum inside dulls that holds light /
best to be dim /
less pain flickering through history /
there’s one song in space /
ready to O

we can move our mouths from the cleaned curbside /
we can spit from the middle balcony, best on our backs /
oh the uppers can’t afford what they can’t purchase /
fashion in the streets, all the colours with blood as the base /
should we just ask the name children pronounce daily /
I’m me, who are you? /
shared movement through the field /
and the next new world made with a similar growing hand /
and then the giants making everything smaller /
holding your child’s heart as an unleashed sign /
that it should extract without limit /
potential is for children here /
and campaigns elsewhere

a small time to put aside /
the head blinking loud /
in the display window where the human sale is always the best /
there is little time to refuse to live /
for those who choose /
to insert splinters between /
what is now and what is now /
one’s health suddenly appears /
on the wall calendar /
marked, “last day, too” /
the head returns banging on the drywall /
there is nothing left to count