1.
rub your glass
periscope dancer
that’s there isn’t
see here
there her
say it rains musty crush
gold box flakes
say “sir” end under
leaves wet roofs a pension
locked-in tuna pen-
chant hello we getting tight
I do not know you spooky person
just another real word
just ice for numb
rest perfect man
nurse woes
drop fans
down down well back a way we go
plinks on robot knee
who says I don’t have feelings
I have plenty
me me
babble about
waterfalls
swim in
waterfalls
you are, like, a hurricane
one beard brags is
another straight cut
our ruler torn
marking the limit
so seriously a few inch
messes of lines
no need to write a notice though
is it not beautiful when children do it
2.
set froze features to heat
stars moving means they are satellites of somewhere
adjusting the dust
plug artificial firings
laptops in other zooms
credits relax you are expecting
sequences of circles
cant now reaches permanent bits
brightening sides of buses
pressing pleasing colors
the glimpse we hear gather
massy smudges
sum it up for you
lots of nights lost
there is not a reason:
not one single reason
this time being called forth
to be entitled and allowed
to travel the globe
never to pin
just one little thought in any one head
jotting down costs
names hotels towns
brands of milk
later what comes tumbling down
over lips in after years
3.
cut like a wedge into the cotillion punch, sour
swollen chin add freckles to that
examination in a glass the light alters
whole days could strand new saints
some joke about Poles
some girls in Poland
bright tape rewinding past magnetic Marguerites
making yourself up in an antiqued mirror
today another Stones show
plots dug in the street again dug in as in dug
a little more past where we two live
once more sad summer is said is said
to be a meaningful shade
to coat bricks
in blood printer’s devil
pirate’s booty dry mouth
Rough Guide to Las Vegas 2009
not your fault that
each sits in her way
painted fully
frame one in plastic bric-a-brac which way to be flexible
artists jamming
fish-infested seas
going to seed
in working bands
great-hearted men who meet the drink
4.
one popular adjective ushering
off a tenor
I’ve got something
speech speech
dial-a-movie
ringing again
and after climax of
whanging harem hammers
hammering on
the neighbor’s baby grand
a mad cry of freedom
5.
where the cobbler stops we raise our cups
rough grain gets on allover
lumber about crazed
foam bells starting to break
a startling question
remember about lemmings
the new girl’s smock poses
her sorrowful eyes
we each can’t fit in a period
silently barkeep
kick us out into tonight
still spaces to litter with crushed shells
homeless persons or if you prefer hermits
T. S. Eliot might watercolor
Sundays all his life though in peanut colors
his greatest maxim:
keep it to yourself
6.
spar for prose
seeing us trellised
in thorny stereo no
roses guns
shh this is uplifting objects
you can move things
just by thinking hello stuff stuff
today I will share
happy to be here happy to be there
someone read the minutes
all answer it’s hard
these choice choices scrambled
emoticon victim you
me too, dizzy:
not to show it
spinning more, keep on turning
ditto machine purple
ditto ditto ditto ditto
ditto ditto ditto ditto
7.
it took authority to write it down
a committee to make it into a pile
and maintenance to screw the plaque to the wall
the exam samples are you afraid
when building sets for Polanski
open the guide for in-flight TV
so your thumb lies on Ben Hur
8.
linens and things
things and linens
where does it end
the most beautiful birdsong I’ve heard
continues when lightbulbs come on
I read your blog
this morning you call our role
a spaghetti western dish
wiping ointments discreetly in train cars
can you just pick this up and turn it on
learning separated by equals signs
wanting a new engine
black letter the word caboose
9.
he here who is poorer than Richard
down to the wire marathon
keep us breathing
windows
to tell less what we see through than why
this act of shredding pretending to be
illustrated step by step
figure one: jambs and knobs
now there gates there gates now
whisper the air melody air the whisper
couldn’t you couldn’t
you try to explain to try you
drink it all up
fall down in the muck
look at the leafy there
ascertain its color and walk away
classified men
tell you this our
nothing else rodeo
10.
getting references starts to get even
mister manners so at home
think importunate look-up
glimpse calm in the iris
just ice can you lick it
better digest the room twice wanting
a do-over liking your air
terrible with money flinch
could it you be friend to the end friend me one credit
please thank you come again oh please
11.
more prosy Saturdays flipping off the calendar
winging away into the wind
characters get older
font dry as the steward’s eye
pure corn trashed
pure corn fuel scheme
pure corn oiled guns
pure corn hatred nut
pure corn sunset tongue
pure corn pet spider
pure corn bland wash
pure corn tattoo shop
pure corn inspected ham
pure corn sashimi
pure corn convention event
pure corn tortilla
12.
listen to tumblers here now
feel the safeness get up close
lift grain-colored highballs face
trouble puddles well in corneas’ guts
oh disapproval palms
hearts can’t eat out on this date
could this place serve what we need
if we knew what we needed
this review was funny three helpful two
obnoxious one, pass the gavel
put a hotel on the boardwalk
and a cap on the baloney bellboy
13.
once on this train why would I get off
really not knowing anything
breathing through a tube
fierce ruth after seven-elevens go dark
danger boys retire all smokes
when to my confessions booths slam shut no
matter too rough till morning test stop
the emergency reggae broadcast system stop
sleeping strange couches smell of man
how I remember grad school
would you call your mother a mutt
your country yeah just once in a long while
a cocky bastard voice in the skull
make me a man signing words not indifferent
clasp hands you couldn’t make us
singing when the shower stops