I dreamt of the ways it could and did
go wrong, the departure to the party
and my key, what was her name
and who were these girls –
yes to bright longing and no –
how to get out and where
oh where was my key?
I dreamt of the ways it could and did
go wrong, the departure to the party
and my key, what was her name
and who were these girls –
yes to bright longing and no –
how to get out and where
oh where was my key?
Your move to grab it is
what makes it fall
Its going is already gone
I spoke of the Beatitudes and a
woman asked,
Why did you leave out
the second one? And I said I
didn’t mean to,
and she said, Oh,
I was just wondering.
It’s good to be alive doing nothing.
Boy I’ve been running around!
Even now when I’m not,
things want me to.
The dishwasher beeps,
the microwave beeps,
the dryer beeps.
They all want more.
But I’m not giving it.
With every minute,
I’m ever more alive doing nothing!
Our souls are pulled to pieces
How do you get
what you need to
get what you need?
Isn’t the heart so
small, still and jingly, so
lonesome in the dark?
Do you have
a strong mind?
I think I do,
I said, for
when I cast,
I cast far, but I
reel it back in.
Some, though,
once the hook sets,
give line
and the fish goes
and far
and they all go live
in the deep blue sea.
For Annegien
And for Phil Phillips
Our brother-and-sisterhood we’ll reclaim
beyond this crude scavenging, past
words and cries in the
dawn of the world itself
There are spaces within which
criminals know they’ve
done it, but
no one else does
yet:
the space between the
trigger-pull and
hammer-strike;
the space through which
the bullet flies;
the space between the
impact
and its registering in the brain.
Such spaces expand
to mingle with the air.
You may have
passed through one
on your way here.