Unfolding

Unfolding

A Love of death that grows into being
Through layers of smell, treachery
Scratched out and drilled into
The shatter of a locked door
Time wasting on the hands
Always wasting
Living on this wounded street
Running from doom’s helping hand
They give and take away
Pretending to be god
Unfolding lie of a morbid wish

Stepping Out of the El Greco

Stepping Out of the El Greco
“For Holden”

You did it, once again
Against the wishes of your masters
They have steely eyes
Those sparkle like jaded beaks
And tongues that betray
Flapping to eternity
Into a destiny of morass

Turned into silence
Like the windswept stones
Born from the exploitation
A morality and distrust
You feed them little scraps
Little turnips of time

I feel the vultures circling
Around my back
Sniffing out the sublime
Portals of damnation
Open to the fire breathing
Digging deep into the bedrock
Raise high your scavengers

Being in the world, but not of it
Yes, this also must pass
A penumbra of unknowns
Your star catcher surprise
But, none were really too surprised
It all came out as planned
By a loving god with cracked veins
Pointing across the ceiling

Slung across your shoulder
Like a boy packing dynamite
They love you despite yourself
Blank spaces between the sentences
You too, Brutus?

Scorched Seaweed

Scorched Seaweed

The green shadows forget his names
All those he used
In different lifetimes
Now a grizzled old man
With two pools of alertness
An ancient foot soldier
There is nothing outside of him
Nowhere can he turn for learning
He has held the absolute too long
Tired arms that know no forgiveness
He was a god with an impossible task
To set down lines that refused his touch
Before he entered the wilderness
The empty wasteland of nothing
How the winds howl with contempt in his mind
Especially when he lets his thoughts wander
Then he remembers
How the sound of forgiveness feels
Against the hard edge of steel

Once Again

Once Again

Imbued with a moist clarity
The gift of an avid fan
The teacher said that there would be days like this
Those words of warning are not hollow now
How could he know the future?
The body decomposing and neighbors growing
Suspicious by the minute
Another day would bring new adventures
But I have to make it through this one first
The cops will be knocking down the door
If I don’t get rid of the body
Remembered colors of death
I have seen this before
Maybe in another life
My Karma coming back
To haunt me once again

Little gun

Little gun

Firm brisk strokes
As the black birds fly
North to unknown seasons
The curse of your smoking gun
With a skewed perspective
Slightly off kilter
The idea of departure
More real suddenly
Come prepared for music
When the fight should be on
Doing it for pearls
Deeds of a wicked hand
One foot forward
Slowly is the attack
Apt pupil

The people have burned down

The people have burned down

The function no more
Between the blades of cement blocks
A crumbling sense of permanence
Evades your mind
As you ponder the unmeaning of life
The mayor building water parks
Seeking oblivion
And the tax breaks of the wounded
While feeding on the terror
The water misses her cleaning-maid daughters
They have left on buses and trains
Seeking ghostly tongues
The sons of alarm clock mornings
Inside you is a six-pack of beer
Moving away from the fire
Eternity in the newspapers
Tonight at the fairgrounds
Late model elimination