lets drive through the hole in the sky

I see your eyes
weary with unrest slackened
heavy with age
but I remember
young energy
feet that were light
claws that cut
and teeth that
sucked the marrow
out of life
a rare treat
to watch your sleep
soft subtle
breaths and
old man snores
never so much
as a peep
of sorrow
strength that
turns the world
world aside
one day we'll see
one day will keep
one day we'll shoot loneliness
fly on bullets
shot through space
with a gun
and meet again
in sleep
where like diamonds
all dreams return

Some Sense Of Self

Turbulent Disconnect

I'll lock all the doors
pull the blinds
it'll be fine
wild animal noises
we'll strike strange poses
crawling around on the floor
howling on all fours
tried of the drivel and
the dreck
what the hell
lets get shipwrecked
light our way
with unused
signal flares

right before the shiny explosion
we'll hit the deck
my mouth and the salt drying on your neck
some spanish tequila
going down like siren's screams
some how fits getting
shipwrecked

Love U Josquin

Hope you're somewhere grabbing a comfy cardboard box. You always made them look so toasty. Miss you buddy. Lit a candle for you....my beautiful boy.

(you bet) Coastal Trial

 denied
a gift
stolen
better you than
better
yeah
than you and him
and disarray

some new letter
to fold
follow
down the
hole
where the
shadow lays
where you bet
its only a new magic
yet
you graze
he held spots
sporting
your gaze
you bet
yeah
 you're better not
to bet.

To kiss my eyes
and then
a slow duress
a pandemonium
natural to
the sun
we become
not dangerous
unexpected
yet a play
redressed in
ascension bound
by earthly constraints
applied.

???/!!!/I Can See My House From Here/Rat Race

new streams
seem
unfamiliar
dream hidden
in rye
cut down
like
old
beauty
queens
pageantry
dried
like a a potato ring
in some nameless
field
a place to C#
all my own
golden notes
for a lost boy
and his golden throne
some place that will not ask
questions that will not
for another day
for the right name
to replace
space ship in the
trismeric flow
what else is played
against the rhythmic
hics and coughs
that never stop
that language never tops
did you get it in the last bit?
do the stars shine like diamonds
when you look away?
do the lines in the face of
mars ever make
you wonder?
wander into space
inside?
its a plutonian race
you're rats to ponder
best to move
on
gander
question
in the ether...

It Was Alright

a piece of glass
a sea shell
part of a broken doll
and some coral.
a few pieces of jewelry
and some special rocks
from that trip
to Australia
what I wouldn't do
if I could
be there
again
it would
be
1950
me meek
free from age
one book
a bible
I read every page
there was no way out
no martyr without
a painted pout
would you believe
me
if I said I met god
on the battlefield
and every rock
is a message sealed
where man makes
a deal buddy,
you peddle your
ideas
weak ideals
outside
men pretend to be men
just running in place
dirty
and wasted
pretending
to taste to the ceiling
while
they're awake
yeah, that is what they will say in the morning
weather they are brewing storms
every idea is the
same
like any man or woman
you can name
begging for bread
at the back door
we all look the same
piled high
in a hole in the ground
covered in quicklime
no way in
or out
that is supposed to be free
of pain
why do think
we're so afraid of change
of the potential of another day
why do
people have to beg anyway?
outside
your vision
sews jagged incisions
accusations falsely rebuffed
something, something bird guys
on that folkways label
no one can remember all
those folk records from 1953
how many bookshelves can
one man have?
to stave off guilt
to throw into the sea
or to the flames
how many books does it take
for one man to learn
to starve
to live and
rearrange laws
wonder if the sky wants stars
wonder what kind of place this is
where a man can lay down and die
but I'll take a swing
even though I don't know
with my good arm
even though
I don't know.

First Day of Fall is Coming / Random Indigo

close your eyes / people can't see

Summers Shimmering (exit)

project it on
the fifth
something similar
simple and fitting
she signs of birds frittered away
blue clapped common
encapscalted ocelot
eviscerating ecstasy
escaping
exit,
sin, sugar, sing
sugar while away
keep hidden,
sleep suddenly.
sleep murderous.
she seems to tomorrow.
she sleep her vision.
she sounds for firing off
sounds a shimmering
she simmers
and ropes and fulfills 
and pulls and pulls and
then is gone.

A Little Midnight Shipwreck

no one would believe
how often we work
to self deceive
like an old king
on his tarnished throne
talking about all his hang ups
on the telephone
where he hangs his coat
the crocodiles in
the moat you could
not cradle your head
full of inhibition
wrapped with strips
of old skin
hung up and hanging
wounded and staining
the wooden landscape
the papered walls
tilting kudzu covered
garden stalls
not touched since the 1970s
stuck on a post
a dried and rotting vine
trials and tribulations of wrong choices
made over time

but costs, all or most
eventually recovered
without choice
run aground voices
being hung up
all the time
(sigh)

No More Medicine

If I glanced at you
from a stream of light
could I take the lead?
would it be
like being free
blindfolded
in the dark
all those warm nights
out in birdland
blinking lights
and laughter
at the park
parts of you
hidden here
and there
a trace
of an outline
with four legs
and a hairy stare
in the deep wells
of memory
for all gifts
eventually return
the source of grace
once secured
all things return
to their former shape
and space.
you are everywhere
the howl and the chatter
running around in
the hereafter
 what kind of theater
are we waiting
in the wings for?
the heaviness
which pervades
when strange emotions
shape landscapes
we use to escape

and somewhere
a place I don't know
yet with furry angels

stars with sails
angels with tails

when life goes off the rails
it gets wings.

- for Mack


p.s. - I promise to take good care of your daddy until we can all go to the park together again.

For Mack (cross posted on Facebook)

Mack 1996 - 2011

I wanted to post this in honor of Mack, who left us this past week to go run and play on the other side of the rainbow bridge. I only had the pleasure of knowing Mack for a little while but the brief time I spent with him was always nothing short of sublime. His sweet gentle nature and happy-go-lucky disposition could make even the grayest day seem warm and sunny-and this picture reminds me of that. We had such fun running, laughing/barking and playing together on our walks with Bob, to Kay park and the field. You always brought a smile to my face and to the many strangers who you came into contact with.

I know you will have lot of new friends to play with until we meet again. I told Champ, Taffy, Cody and all our other friends to look for you once you arrive so you won't be lonely. I know you are feeling better now so you can run and play again-and your daddies know they don't have to worry if you are hurting anymore. I told them have plenty of biscuits ready or there would be some serious woofing going on!

Love you, miss you and see you again someday.

Your friend Steve

Considerations On The Rolodex Incident

world war 2 buddies
who will listen as I talk
what is this house even worth
nothing but a last sleeping november
soft graces that once filled these spaces
a tired hand holding a lit cigarette
no more places left to go
no more reason
for doubt
for a mind
that yearned to soar
but feared flight
will I learn to travel
light
will I learn to travel
by the aligned constellations
I watch for
in the night

me and sailors
me and my guitar
just a lonesome road
you know
the ones you read about?

how did we get here
without a map and no idea
just some bitter idea
of perfection
that eventually requires
correction
lay a little here
and a bit with spite
and a little with each person
 in your rockets
we're all astronauts
exploring the unknown
travellign through astral snow
learning a little bit
as we go.

Note To Self Portrait

When Its Cold / One For The Ghosts

Love Letters From A Cemetary

San Francisco
love 2011
phantom floors
revealing new spirits
recording; we vanish into ceilings
the first cocoon of the spring
opening on the new sky
the passing features
walk rainbow beaches
one in a million creatures
touch you
then somehow
it all goes away

sincerely I remain
here to document
despite familiar
ghosts on a train
----------
how could anyone
have a problem
on a day like today
the sun is shining
the spiders are spinning
new webs to capture
like dreaming sailors
in their boats(in their sails).
on the sea(on the air).
-(vault)-

Note to Self

goddammit the world is such an awful shitty place sometimes.

Self Loathing In Texas

like a fish out of water
flapping away
on the dock
the clockis ticking
too long without

air
alone in the upstairs
room
the ice is forming
on the roof outside
I watch the ghost
leak into the
cold at night

I didn't think
I could move
nothing to grab
at blue wriggly blue
hazyness
fish underwater
while one boy
watched

laughing
from the
other side of the pool
must have slipped in

don't dive in
and get him
I wore cold
and blue today
for him
for one boy's name
to go away
for one boys name
not to be like mine
cover my manor
in boy hood rivalry
but from the other side of thew waves
the same thing that makes kings kill one another
and evil cain slaying abel
sever my heart
at the dinner table
try to carve off
my wings
and gut me
something to point to
a carcass, your preferred
jackass, skull and bones maracas
punching bag told to
love you so much
I'm turning blue 
eyes are red
sometimes too
And this is the guy I should be like?
kick you off
on ancient winds
rustled cattle and wild horses are all eventually free
you can't speak my language
tax my happiness
wait for me to fall over
plant some clover on my grave?
something for the worms
to savor? when my flesh can be their slave?
But you had to run 5 states away!
funny watching Goliath cave
happy the man with
his face that smiles
hahahahahahaah
hahahah...

Porter Street & Junk Annex

drug through
the eye of a needle
in Seattle
wouldn't I have thought
not to speak highly
of you love
push more stars into
your view
where only gods can see
no cheap stage trick
with a burnt side
of fried integrity

turn on turn on
not at all island sticks
turning inward
the wood spinning
the curls of
grain
stained hands
rinsed by
sine waves, rains, raves
turn on
the mind
turn on the moon
winter coming soon
devils deals with
dollars in the heavens
please politicans and
persnickety unemployed
electricians all slowing down
here in the corner
of your head
with melted disguises
they fell out of their guise
right out of black nights
right out of the sky

turn on
the strain
the water pools and
we slow down
time slows down
we turn the bed down
put your head down
its snowed in
glow turned
outside in
---------

Another One From An Electric Bird

Hey Love!

Big Nate in the house...

quick takes

clouds match explosions
hidden emotions
like slow gas leaks
become squeaks
then bleve
then fire

everything going south
the pillar is posted
the liar is hoisted
watch the money
drip from his
foul mouth


climax cinematic scenes
bathed in polychrome fusion
its all too beautiful and taboo
the last boy who said that became faust
and the scenery designer
too