single minded

I remember the fires that came
through this field. the winter dead sunflowers
folding at last to rest, fence posts
wearing thinner with each lick, and
the sky pillowed with rich black smoke
rising until caught by a single minded breeze.
when the dry summer stretches out to meet
idle hands we are hidden below
the horizon of the grass. I am anchored by your nearness
and the small touch of your fingers
when passing the cigarette back and forth.
your eyes are lost in something hidden by the cloudless blue sky,
mine are consumed by yours



.

unfinished

I angle my teeth to catch the
splintered stars. Their light fits
me now. is there any softness left
to you, curves to guide me? I have
faced the wind too long.
I am all loose footing and
scree I cannot touch you without
breaking. lets leave this less than
done so there will always be
something more



.

anything approppriate

I quote my own silence in an effort to explain what folds

around these hands. there has been different skin, collapsed like a mortuary

shroud, the thinnest breath of shelter floating in the fluorescent air.

the hardening lines of earthworms

dead on the concrete borders. It was an easy lie

to follow, washed away from the dark to wither in the slackening flow.

I have been in the choir, mouth formed around pennies

others threw. breath expelled in four counts, staggering

through the false harmony.

way over the line a dead coyote waits by the interstate for

a new hunger to consume it. I leave a fortune cookie

in case there is anything appropriate 

.