Four Wheel Drive
That moment
when you
have been
on the road
so long
you forget
the feel
of pavement
under your
boots
Occupation
There is a small fleet
of marmosets in your
kitchen. The good thing
about this is they have
prepared your easter
dinner and you are
ready for the inevitable
guests
Page of Pentacles (reversed)
I wish everyone
in these other cars
on North Broad
at four in the morning
were harmless
how many beautiful
women were out here
at midnight but are not now
they have taken to their beds
perhaps to the comfortable
arms of lovers or maybe
the cool bluster of empty sheets
they cannot celebrate
the beauty of our city
in the predawn black
punctured with 24 hour
gas station lights with me
Pigs, All of You, Pigs
The rat tribunal passes judgment,
and it is never anything
but the stake. We have never
paused to ask ourselves
if there is another option.
The skull thrown to the surface
by the overzealous gravedigger
is the most pious inhabitant
of the battlefield; we ask
for premonition, get naught.
The smoke from the flames
blacks out the sun, but we
cannot deny it warms us,
cooks our food, allows god
to see us from heaven.
Vet for the Insane
smell of dead waterfowl
and the breezy infidelities
of decayed foliage
always alert
you sleep in ellipses
check the platform
for movement
find an abandoned
subway tunnel
curl into slumber
activate the eye
in your spine
then, silent,
draw your pistol
and shoot
shoot
until they fall
with open eyes
recite your litany
enter the names
of the dead
in your book
with a pencil stub