Innocence

 

The sound of children

comes in swells

like the sea…. I love

how they fill the emptiness and silence

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The Light

 

If only

intelligence were a storm

Autumn

    Autumn

 

So many things

are vulnerable to cold—

the cucumber’s crisp

and my sweet basil’s toes,

Dream Vision

Even when I’m asleep
I’m awake, producing things
inflammatory or illegal
to the spooks that would govern
our concepts of light.

Big Dreams

 

I do not dream
of going to LA,
New York City,
Hollywood
or any other
Metro of delusion.

Statues

It is hard to grapple
with a statue. In fact
it was quite humorous to watch
an angry mob try
to destroy
Robert E. Lee
in Charlottesville.

Life Support

 

I feel like a slug
searching for something
wet and cold
to cling to, a post
of black metal
sweating
in the heat of the night.

Wild Ballet

 

Wild Ballet

Today I was witness
to Baryshnikov and Nureyev
in a wild ballet. Such grace!
Such nerve! Such beautiful leaps
as they chased each other
across the meadow stage.

The Bear

 artwork by R. Rensberry

Troyer saw the bear
in his field, the second
bear he’d seen
in his eighty-four years,

The Ire of God

Earl’s heart
like the rabbits and deer
gets its tides from the phases
of moon. As it wanes
all is quiet in the woods
and furrows.

The Pay Is High

I am leaving
by choice, opposing
forces that would keep me
like a moth fluttering
at the lights of San Francisco.

The Big House

If I were San Quentin,
I would hold the key
to everything evil.
My heart would beat
with the tattooed fists
of men sentenced
into my keep, boys gone
crazy as their crimes.

Flamingos

You have got to love
Flamingos, their saucy moves
Ladies in high heels

politicians

In Michigan
the politicians of spring
will soon sprout

and shout
colorful words
of hope
from their pulpits.

Amnesia

It slips into a vein
like a needle

into a junkie.
They’ll complain

until their lack
turns euphoric.

The Invasion

While my parents were sleeping
the invasion began… first

The Henhouse

The bickering has begun
among the disturbed
chickens in the henhouse.

A rooster flew in
from New York
and crowed unexpectedly.

Arithmetic

If you take all the pieces
of living, my desires and needs
for softness
in and around and upon
the body, for the pressure to live
outside the skin
as if the penis were an ornament
instead of an instrument
of love in the flesh,

Idols of Gods

 

Once it was noble
to defend your name, to kill a man
that would dishonor your grave,
once it was honor
to conquer your foe
and rename the land that war bestowed.

Storm Sewer

We head out
in search of adventure, walk
atop stone walls
along Brooklyn Street and peer
into holes, culverts and dead falls.

Foot Wedge

Sculpture by Richard Rensberry

 

This game is a ball
we accuse, chase
and infuse
as if its will
could be bent
to ours,

Keepsakes

So many joys
so many tears
time collected
in moments and years

your favorite hat
you never wore
me standing naked
clothes on the floor

Happiness

 

The light
in the ferns
turns your eyes
green fire. The wind

Our Medicine

The decibels of truth
have gone silent, her Angels
gagged by politics. The universities
have come to define us
as something that grows in a Petri dish.
We are chemicals
to be chemically treated.

Executive Decision

 
 
Painting by R. Rensberry
 
I will
empty myself
of nail guns and jack-
hammers, spit up
buses, taxis

This Town

 

Artwork by R. Rensberry

What this town needs
is a trapdoor,
a blackhole with a coffee shop;

The Music

If I were a violin,
I’d set your neck
arm and chin.

After

Photo by R. Rensberry

 

Here after here
Gone after gone
Month after month
Dawn after dawn

Laugh after laugh
Tear after tear
Dusk after dusk
Year after year