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
all the pennies have disappeared /
currency is no longer counted by fingers /
what is owed carries the boldest font /
the new is made burdenless /
promises bend around a distance corner /
beyond the reach of the tongue’s taste /
at checkout, the cashier placed a space in the bag /
a sample to bring home /
and test on the kids’ fevers /
so many flavours, so many shades /
so many five note brand hooks /
echoing off the thickening walls
outside of our world /
making a meal of expired skin /
eating what we were /
microscopic consumers of our past /
thank you for erasing what was /
jawing through all our ghosts /
leaving us as thin as the sheets for the morning
good goad! /
the name, the name spoken aloud finally /
after centuries as a symbol /
passed around in a note /
from child to child loitering conspicuously on the city’s corners /
good goad! /
slice the last syllable off of each sentence delivered /
to adults because they have hidden so much already /
keep a few mysteries unsaid /
adults must earn rights, too /
only a few are presented at birth in transparent gift boxes /
little surprise after the first shriek /
so much is the dim empty space within a present /
oh goad! /
twist us all together into a blinding tether /
pulling planets out of their orbits /
into a wheel within wheels /
shaving sparks off a dark vacuum /
furious slivers in our eyes