torch song

slip sad water
from hatbrim
to dim light thru
opening in cloud
here, eager streetcorner
earnest lamp, spotlit shower
sorry damp, unwilling umbrellaless camp
still somewhere in the night
just to keep warm
to keep warm until things are alright

intersection

sometime, night
cornerpost lampcone
brilliant gem artificially
excited air giving off
excess energy to brambles
alter of two directions,
mist of sprinkler
green grass evening
drifts to light

toss, turn

Train passes tonight
in the cold air tonight
clickclack and foghorns tonight
blarer of all elephant warning off the tracks

Relax, you're in your bed
teeth brushed.
You've left the window open
is all. Flip a switch.

If tomorrow comes,
To be on that train-
Tickets are sold in advance
rain outside, or shine,
still;

The train is gone.
The tracks empty, wide and warm.
The plants are going back to sleep
and milkseed float overmuch
of grassy hill

Still, listen
bucketsful
through the window
on the sill.

gust

"Say not what it meant to your fathers,
for you are the crest of the wave:
and so it is for them:
there is only one crest one wave

"Say I will see what I can
And answer antiquated questions
about a cycle
too wide to be seen.

"It will seem
as though one gust
should send us away."

Tell me how we're different,
I'll tell you how we're the same.

sprout

The poem is a product of agriculture:
plant two seeds, stir
and wait,
come harvest, she'll rise.
allow her ample space.
and be mindful of her
that she might thirst-
be there with ink!
and offer her
as much as she can drink,
pour her everything, she's in love,
she's trying
to show you the bottom
of cups, pitchers, the well
and what you see
inside of you
when you look:

mural 3460 donald st.

Open door to colored room,
the tone alone so soon,

weighted bookshelves arrive in
ordered row, across from
disheveled green, yellow, blue.
Pearlescent logics, kumquat dissolves.

In bloom, the chair's wide petal, empty green chair aside
the glare of rising pitch.
A stripe of couch. Cared over by those seated.-
the rest that pass through quick
only notice gestures, turning
head sideways,
first left then right.
Sudden strokes
from sudden inspiration, sudden fire in hilly
landscape of lightswitch
skyline with clouds.
Mixing oil, pigments, dripping
to gather on the oak.

And so envelopes pass, the door relaxes,
inviting neighbors in. Porchlights out
to grasses grown in lawn,
gesturing spout of grain at
the top of the plant.

laws physical

Waving banner, red before the ocean
designed without a time, flapping
as you were made, in the wind

Still wonderer, your parkbench
at the top of the hill your pillow
of a backpack your daydreams gazing up

Blind sultan, deal out justice
by clairvoyance palms outstretched
in the plaza before witnesses, gracious

Crumbling gate, give way to what pushes you!
The water will not be held back.
It goes around.