Tuesday, May 31, 2011

when i drink
i see new york
i am swinging from ropes
tied to industrial fans
how do i
stay sane
in th i s w o r l d
without your p
e
r
f
e
c
t
loove?

i want to hang there like a toulouse latrec
children
will
carve
runes
into my sternum

may be
they'll salt me
and for centuries




read the







stories

across








my
chest

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

tick tock diner and the big watch

running treadmill on the cinema roll
always watching my legs move
and your legs
you want it in
your own tired way
and i'll find my own way
out thank you

every guy thinks they're special
paul says well
they damn well better
lest they find themselves
spladle limbed perpendicular
spread like jam
garnishing the waterfront
we all seep into
the concrete with
particular flavor

and who will clean you
up my dear
as your breasts hang like
christmas baubles
and your eyes wider even
i want to break you
but you hand me
shards and superglue

i only take photos
in the subway
or i leave you out
completely
i can't look
at your wallpaper smiles

on the ferry
when i was young
my father insisted on being
in the picture so i held
the lens to his navel
and he threw that photo away

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Ode to an Absinthe Spoon

so you finally realized you're an entertainer
cowboy bill
i spnt (spent) a full 7 minutes
explaining to you why i love
absinthe spoons

if
if you
if you could
if you could only
if you could only stop
if you could only stop your
if yoo could only stop your heart
if you could only stop your heartbeat
if you could only stop your heartbeat for
if you could only stop your heartbeat for one heart
if you could only stop your heartbeat for one heartbeat

I'd like to roll you down the steps of
Mr. Callahan's ziggurat and
there are parts of you that i want to suspend in time
like a pickled head in a mason jar

jamie's too kind not to spare
a kind word for me
but he criticizes from afar and
doubles back on his bravado with
tongue in cheek bravado
aren't we who are brilliant all ashamed
aren't we
brilliant

i still keep your headband in a cigar box
and i remember things sometimes like traffic
coming back across the throgg's neck bridge
i am wearing your headband right now
in traffic across the throgg's neck bridge

all thoughts are prey to some beast

they told me it was ok to steal
even as they severed my hands
and kept them pickled in that same jar
as they stole my hands

Coney Island the tumescent lustre
of 2 pm in Brooklyn
photo booths strong men pin wheels

o croaker, croaker fill me this prescription
i typed it and put it out in public
so as to make it legible

so well crafted and
for one small purpose
perforated with diamonds

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

when she takes off
her dress it reminds
me of the way you take
off your dress
like it was christmas
and you knew
it was something special
from the glances you've gotten
in windowshop mirrors

my verse i couldn't
do violence to it
building the levees higher
shoveling the floodwaters
back in to atone for a
lack of foresight
green chartreuse
looks
good
on
you

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Memorial

The year of grace 1654,

Monday, 23 November, feast of St. Clement, pope and martyr,
and others in the martyrology.
Vigil of St. Chrysogonus, martyr, and others.

From about half past ten at night until about half past midnight,

FIRE.

GOD of Abraham, GOD of Isaac, GOD of Jacob
not of the philosophers and of the learned.
Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.
GOD of Jesus Christ.
My God and your God.
Your GOD will be my God.
Forgetfulness of the world and of everything, except GOD.
He is only found by the ways taught in the Gospel.
Grandeur of the human soul.
Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you.
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.
I have departed from him:
They have forsaken me, the fount of living water.
My God, will you leave me?
Let me not be separated from him forever.
This is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God,
and the one that you sent, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
I left him; I fled him, renounced, crucified.
Let me never be separated from him.
He is only kept securely by the ways taught in the Gospel:
Renunciation, total and sweet.
Complete submission to Jesus Christ and to my director.
Eternally in joy for a day's exercise on the earth.
May I not forget your words. Amen.

-Sewn into the lining of Blaise Pascal's Jacket