Follow The Bleeder
Footsteps lead to where they will,
the brick fronts in the downlands surrounding Todt Hill.
An island bears a son born from each borough and none.
On the ferry, licking newspaper and pen tips,
chasing pigeons into green waves.
Foam. At the mouth. At the eyes.
Thirty foot telephone pines
guiding her in. If there is a slip
crushed as her hips sway by.
To Grand Central and the rails and the cans,
cigarette in one and a cannonball in the other,
a razor between cheek and gum,
Go west to the lakes.
Forget everything flowing through veins.
Release the hounds and take the parcels to zero.
Give them time to over grow
watch the concrete skin break
and sit in the fields of creeping life.
Pluck a flower now and then
to place behind an ear.
The sun the governor. Out here.
The hammer a friend. Out here.
The sea in dreams alone.
The seams last artifacts.
The grasses thick and green
waving in the breeze
the five fathers and mothers mythed.
In every red drop
a new seed of home.
Thy Neighbor
Golden as the day you were born.
How can you love anyone
if you cannot love yourself, we know.
My lord, Imlhnyt, I try,
but they do not believe.
Convert or die. I recite to me
in the long hours before dawn
when their time begins
to intersect our own and maps are laid down.
Imlhnyt, can I force them to see?
You laugh and I bray,
our maps inlaid in pink gold,
theirs in paper. In passing we will know,
but before our shoulders brush
for directions, tourists the same in wonderlands unfamiliar,
waving and winking from our sun drenched boats.
Keys
Seek bits of skin from beneath fingernails and find
the dried taste of you waiting for a little water
to free the aromatic angles and planes again.
Settled snowdrift blown from the tip
of an awning into my eyes. Heavy wind.
My alarm clock goes again and I push the switch
to shut its mouth, my hand over yours hours before.
Your tiny teeth chew my palm,
my hack saws chewed your breasts.
Strands of your hair still inside my maw.
The sheets must go. A fine robe on the way to a bath,
a tooth brush, a long Saturday afternoon
with a fine cup of tea and news radio, perhaps.
I heard you collect your shoes, your purse, your phone.
There is always time for talk tomorrow.
Raised arms to stretch aching ribs
I know it will take a few weeks
before the hair your little fingers tore away
grows back on my chest.
Would it have killed you to leave some symmetry?
A yawn, running water that begins to steam my mirror,
reminds me not to clench my teeth
next time I scream "hit me!"
The waste basket is full of red paper and I see
your chuckle, blood rim toothed, grin.
Breath you in. Drink you in. Spilled out,
vomiting. The doorbell. The spins. The doorbell again.
The peephole. The doorbell. The spins. The deadbolt.
"I am sorry, I forgot my keys."
It is fine. Look around. They are in the key tray, silly.
"Thanks. Thank you so much."
Sure. We should do that again some time.
"Maybe. Put some ice on your eye."
Call me.
The spins. The deadbolt. The bath.
Closing my eyes, one black and you'd,
my stomach is full. Breath steam
to clear the last of you from inside my head
before I bury my bones back in our bed.
Grey Byrd and Yellow Byrd
Curled beside you beneath the waxing moon,
sky darkening to stroked velvet from afternoon's denim,
you blow smoke rings that float to frame
the stars winking to life like bulbs on an uncertain circuit.
Between the rings, your six foot talons
spread the dinner table plates of the armor along my neck
and you puff butane blue plumes of flames
that tickle my skin like the pricks of an evergreen's limbs
and I cannot help blushing and belching
bright red and orange balls of fire every time your breath
touches me, singeing the hillside black
and lighting the cirrus clouds, thinning overhead, like
100 yard garden lanterns against the night.
original works of parts
Soup's On
Making some pea soup because
it is delicious. Drop a few bones in the pot
to swim like wooden fishes.
Stir it for some nice long hours
until it makes a paste.
Blow on it to chill it down
so you don't scald your face
then stick your tongue all round that spoon
and have a little taste.
Add some extra beans and rice for yums
and polish up some dishes.
Pour it out for dinner with a blanket
and oyster crumbs
then roll away like a tumbleweed
to dreamland's 40 blisses.
it is delicious. Drop a few bones in the pot
to swim like wooden fishes.
Stir it for some nice long hours
until it makes a paste.
Blow on it to chill it down
so you don't scald your face
then stick your tongue all round that spoon
and have a little taste.
Add some extra beans and rice for yums
and polish up some dishes.
Pour it out for dinner with a blanket
and oyster crumbs
then roll away like a tumbleweed
to dreamland's 40 blisses.
Cup of Tea
I pushed my dreams
under ground.
The lightning came with fury and sound.
Rubber to road, I held the load and we danced
like rabbits and 'verines and black counts.
We had this thing,
this thing out loud!
We had a dream,
a way to shout.
It all came apart with a terrible clap.
After the flash the rain came in sheets.
Dancing to dice and
making "me"s,
trying to blind and trying to see,
pushing my dreams
across seven seas
with nostrils wide open
and please, honey, see.
At the table,
eye and you,
crossed a cup of tea. Our fingertips tapping mug handles.
under ground.
The lightning came with fury and sound.
Rubber to road, I held the load and we danced
like rabbits and 'verines and black counts.
We had this thing,
this thing out loud!
We had a dream,
a way to shout.
It all came apart with a terrible clap.
After the flash the rain came in sheets.
Dancing to dice and
making "me"s,
trying to blind and trying to see,
pushing my dreams
across seven seas
with nostrils wide open
and please, honey, see.
At the table,
eye and you,
crossed a cup of tea. Our fingertips tapping mug handles.
Cupid
"Don't worry about it,
I've got you covered."
I am worried about it.
Plenty of fish in the sea, my ass!
Tell that to the last unicorn.
I've got unicorn problems, man!
Try explaining unicorn problems to a sea turtle!
That's not going to fly.
What the hell am I?
That's never going to fly.
I've got unicorn problems, man!
I've got you covered."
I am worried about it.
Plenty of fish in the sea, my ass!
Tell that to the last unicorn.
I've got unicorn problems, man!
Try explaining unicorn problems to a sea turtle!
That's not going to fly.
What the hell am I?
That's never going to fly.
I've got unicorn problems, man!
Ascog
I asked the Lord how to fucking deal with life.
He said "ask your father, he knows me and
what exactly is and is not right.
I don't have time to field night calls
and small balls, have you even read my book?
I'm a chef, not a short order cook."
I asked my dad and he said,
to paraphrase,
"Nigga, ahn?
Have you read His book?
If you did you would know
what you should be told.
You shouldn't need me.
All I had to do was make sure
your compass was set to He."
Scratching my head rolling out of bed again.
How the hell am I not dead again.
Spiritual bureaucracy,
are they both mocking me?
Fuck 'em. I'll figure this out.
I'll treat everyone as if they were my own.
Old or young. Deaf or dumb.
I'll love the way the book does not dictate.
Cut this life up like a three layer cake.
Whatever you believe,
believe in me because I have no allegiance,
I have no higher power,
I am not god and
I am not king
I'm just taking care of you
because you are
beautiful to me.
He said "ask your father, he knows me and
what exactly is and is not right.
I don't have time to field night calls
and small balls, have you even read my book?
I'm a chef, not a short order cook."
I asked my dad and he said,
to paraphrase,
"Nigga, ahn?
Have you read His book?
If you did you would know
what you should be told.
You shouldn't need me.
All I had to do was make sure
your compass was set to He."
Scratching my head rolling out of bed again.
How the hell am I not dead again.
Spiritual bureaucracy,
are they both mocking me?
Fuck 'em. I'll figure this out.
I'll treat everyone as if they were my own.
Old or young. Deaf or dumb.
I'll love the way the book does not dictate.
Cut this life up like a three layer cake.
Whatever you believe,
believe in me because I have no allegiance,
I have no higher power,
I am not god and
I am not king
I'm just taking care of you
because you are
beautiful to me.
Hawk EP
Hawk
A bunch in my pocket
call it a locket
the rules that I walk with
town what I talk with
now that I'm off it
down with a knock in
all that I'm lost and
sea with shark fin
found with a lost and
jean with a share bin
every where and where I've been?
Everywhere and where I've sinned?
What all I'm wearing.
Favors I've called in.
Fingers I've placed rings.
Dingos I've chased and
the wilderness we've been doing work on.
The hills we've been blowing horns on.
Tonight we do what we will and yawn
before the barrel of the cannon dream.
Chaste you what does the dawn mean to me?
All green. Lights go off and push the metal.
Light's green and we still see
a child in the road
moral shrugging shoulder
to the floor. Red.
Crossing guard.
Pint sized mini you.
Eight thousand revolutions
clutch out yellow.
Tips
They tell me I will love it
in South Korea.
They tell me I will be
over joyed to be
in South Korea.
If you spit in Singapore
you will be arrested,
I am told.
Then again, a black man
walking
is license gold
down there.
Sold. Brush up my geography.
Dino
I will cut you.
I will gut you..
I will cut you out of me.
Bleed from the gums.
All pink.
All red.
All white. Bone.
When.
Come home, darling.
Why will you not cum?
Do you do us on purpose?
Fox and the brambles.
Tar baby.
Prick.
Jazz.
I will cut you.
I will gut you
for free.
Bleed from gums, all pink.
Hand to a god.
Lips to your cheek.
I do not care what shed before.
Do not speak.
Hula Hoop
Six inches before we had a thought
a box cutter said back pocket briefcase.
Before we walked, I had a talk
and figured we wouldn't need mace.
Clovers on the floor
of the field and the more
I wanted to kiss your face
I was brought down,
a howling hound,
my far too high vision
framed in glittering lace.
A bunch in my pocket
call it a locket
the rules that I walk with
town what I talk with
now that I'm off it
down with a knock in
all that I'm lost and
sea with shark fin
found with a lost and
jean with a share bin
every where and where I've been?
Everywhere and where I've sinned?
What all I'm wearing.
Favors I've called in.
Fingers I've placed rings.
Dingos I've chased and
the wilderness we've been doing work on.
The hills we've been blowing horns on.
Tonight we do what we will and yawn
before the barrel of the cannon dream.
Chaste you what does the dawn mean to me?
All green. Lights go off and push the metal.
Light's green and we still see
a child in the road
moral shrugging shoulder
to the floor. Red.
Crossing guard.
Pint sized mini you.
Eight thousand revolutions
clutch out yellow.
Tips
They tell me I will love it
in South Korea.
They tell me I will be
over joyed to be
in South Korea.
If you spit in Singapore
you will be arrested,
I am told.
Then again, a black man
walking
is license gold
down there.
Sold. Brush up my geography.
Dino
I will cut you.
I will gut you..
I will cut you out of me.
Bleed from the gums.
All pink.
All red.
All white. Bone.
When.
Come home, darling.
Why will you not cum?
Do you do us on purpose?
Fox and the brambles.
Tar baby.
Prick.
Jazz.
I will cut you.
I will gut you
for free.
Bleed from gums, all pink.
Hand to a god.
Lips to your cheek.
I do not care what shed before.
Do not speak.
Hula Hoop
Six inches before we had a thought
a box cutter said back pocket briefcase.
Before we walked, I had a talk
and figured we wouldn't need mace.
Clovers on the floor
of the field and the more
I wanted to kiss your face
I was brought down,
a howling hound,
my far too high vision
framed in glittering lace.
Shoal 4
Watching the sun go down
next to a container ship
twenty times the size of my block
wondering how many of my bikes would fit
inside her.
Clouds hanging close
wondering why
my sisters and brother and I
do not live here.
Fire belly
Go home to
Leave.
In the shoals, the tide rolling out,
jelly fish. Harmless jelly fish and
more seaweed than you can see through
two inches away from the breakers
frothing spit on the pebbles
and shit back washed.
The stink of Jersey a memory and the
Goethals bridge full of promise
in the 90s.
Gotham
can wait.
Let me sprint
on the shore of Staten Island.
next to a container ship
twenty times the size of my block
wondering how many of my bikes would fit
inside her.
Clouds hanging close
wondering why
my sisters and brother and I
do not live here.
Fire belly
Go home to
Leave.
In the shoals, the tide rolling out,
jelly fish. Harmless jelly fish and
more seaweed than you can see through
two inches away from the breakers
frothing spit on the pebbles
and shit back washed.
The stink of Jersey a memory and the
Goethals bridge full of promise
in the 90s.
Gotham
can wait.
Let me sprint
on the shore of Staten Island.
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