Lanterns

the far off buzz inside your head
for the clash as it is happening
impressions of what's been
for a rapid hearted breathing
for electric in your spine
always pawing at the ground like a stray dog
one running reel all the time

it's true
we are finally seeing eye to eye

into lanterns every week coalesce
and divide us into wine
no matter where you beamed your attention
underneath it
you couldn't stand the taste of brine
while my heated brain resorts to distraction
so contrary all the time

it's true
we are finally seeing eye to eye

Chase Scenes

into the overcast you vanished
off that narrow lane that leads you up until you can overlook the cityscape
where you contradict each guess of mine
rang up to your apartment
waited
the door swung wide and out you came

they can arrest you where you're sleeping
they're gonna listen for your breathing
we better make this quick

I can imagine next time meeting in the blur of the lamplight
sing out
reeling carelessly back

this can't be the best adjustment to make
every surface plays
chase me around
can you ratchet down

took a night train south to reconnect with real familiar faces
lately, the ones i've seen match up too late
did I greet you with a toothless smile
you're scowling up through glossy pages
I nod but I dodge those words you're saying

could take an interest in what you're reading
an indication of your genius
how neat the plans you hatch

I don't remember last night's meeting, just the haze of the lamplight and
she across me with her slender hands clapped

this can't be the best adjustment to make
every surface plays
chase me around
can you ratchet down

can you ratchet

Rewrites

we were waving our hands
jumped up on the median and barreled inside
where we may get denied

where we may get denied
like the salt-white wooden planks washed up on the shore
all sanded and plied

I could level with you easy as a stranger
just a coincidence
somebody that I know who was making a point
get completely entangled

don't make such a sour face
for the chance that you grasp like a rope that will surely drag you away

Dear Call Center Voice: Murky questions multiply. Ever-shifting walls in a maze designed to drive you--

speeding into view
lights streaming
I discover just a coincidence
somebody that I know who was making a point
get completely entangled

so I rushed out the door
one direction in my mind
on that cold marble floor
on the last red line
being shaken leftward and right
only drinking
a drop at a time
all your setbacks and rewrites
oily thieves that you string up high
where are they now?

Lake

With your paper tongue
with your vapor thoughts
May Your Bottomless Stomachs Devour the Block Entire

honey missives,
columns shining,
weather-polished, whispered appeals,
riots and fever screams, or
straight-laced speeches

the velvety carpet rolls out like the tide
whisk me safely inside

in a lake of

drawn billowy white
flutter off
still ensconced in my spotless skin
and when I breathe cloudy peace through the night, I wake not once

have you something new to say?
like so many wind chimes
like a long-winded answer fallen silent
like an anchor I fish from the silhouette sea

I had a clear hundred years of designs
I won't change my mind

let the moon shining down kiss their eyelids awake

in a lake of

100 Ideas

your figure emerged from the replica entrance
maybe it's happening
maybe I spun it from this Finnegan's dream
half-past four in the damp air
dimly I saw either the coming of dawn
or the flicker from these shimmering screens

who is riding underground?

the best that I ever could unearth, yet nowhere to be found:
a shred of definitive proof.

world'll likely never know why
detached from all good sense
left grasping good as blind

one hundred wild ideas
like a mirror to the sky
the image changes all the time
so is it so hard to be reminded?

after so long you surface

it's strange, unless I be insane

Watch The People Go

follow the gold lights on the water
up to the windows
encircling the feet of the docks
in through the glass panes
on the ceiling
our winking moon telegraphing
we get washed with thin eyes

so I can see you are brimming over
stayed since your havens are failing now
they can't let you go

whatever reason to keep repeating
arcane and mundane and neither who you are

we watch the people go
step down below
walk the station stairway
and they turn and wave

at one time we wandered without a worry
cure what you can only understand as stars in a line
before you get back home tonight
fine hours we spend tilting closer on to the scratched tabletop

so I can see you are brimming over
stayed since your havens are failing now
they can't let you go

whatever reason to keep repeating
arcane and mundane and neither who you are

we watch the people go
step down below
walk the station stairway
and they turn and wave