A Rock, A River, A Tree Hosts to species long since depart… Marked the mastodon, The dinosaur, who left dried token… Of their sojourn here

Funky blues Keen toed shoes High water pants Saddy night dance Red soda water

The highway is full of big cars going nowhere fast And folks is smoking anything that… Some people wrap their lies around… And you sit wondering

There are some nights when sleep plays coy, aloof and disdainful. And all the wiles that I employ to win

A last love, proper in conclusion, should snip the wings forbidding further flight. But I, now,

I keep on dying again. Veins collapse, opening like the Small fists of sleeping Children. Memory of old tombs,

Soft grey ghosts crawl up my sleev… to peer into my eyes while I within deny their threats and answer them with lies. Mushlike memories perform

Tears The crystal rags Viscous tatters Of a worn-through soul Moans

When I think about myself, I almost laugh myself to death, My life has been one great big jok… A dance that’s walked A song that’s spoke,

We wear the mask that grins and li… It shades our cheeks and hides our… This debt we pay to human guile With torn and bleeding hearts… We smile and mouth the myriad subt…

FOR DAVID P—B The eye follows, the land Slips upward, creases down, forms The gentle buttocks of a young Giant. In the nestle,

One innocent spring your voice meant to me less than tires turning on a distant street. Your name, perhaps spoken,

Curtains forcing their will against the wind, children sleep, exchanging dreams with seraphim. The city

Shadows on the wall Noises down the hall Life doesn’t frighten me at all Bad dogs barking loud Big ghosts in a cloud