houses and yards

We're all-purpose animals--

nothing is ever quite right, but anything will do.

We're questers, constant seekers,

restless black shapes moving among trees,

make things out of vines and bones,

drink potions.

Pleasure is a veiled dancer under stars,

a song you love but can never remember.

"I’m not leaving this planet until I find the treasure

that fits only me," you might say

to the ghosts of past selves, tired of waiting around,

but they’re not tired, are they, phantoms eager to recite wishes

so a poor kid grows up to have too many pairs of shoes.

blackness, branches and birds

I stare into space

my crows of thought

in a rare glide

on this skyward journey

we ride what we love

it’s hard work

but worth it

not just for the view

which is great

but for the fellow feeling

following calls

to the night roost

galaxy of greetings

crow stars

frost and flight

restless sky

aloft prophet look, we’re home

Bird Inside

The sound of wings:

it is, it was. I heard it.

I wrapped it and gave it to you:

you wanted it. “You” were my mind

creating a “you” who wanted

this sound I heard and gathered

not knowing which thing would please you.

Here are the many scars

my hands knew in work

and all the stains of finding.

Stains and scars of my hands and fingers.

I work in all the colors.

What would please you?

The animal eats it: your pleasure disappears.

Saving for a Rainy Day (a math problem)

Stairs are dirt collectors,

they have a lot of corners,

and corners are very protective of dirt,

and what’s more, stairs have feet

going up and down them

at least some of the time, dropping off

tiny particles of skin, hair, decaying leaves,

exoskeletons, diatoms, spores, minerals,

except stairs that are blocked off, but still exist,

barely able remember feet,

but even they know dust really well,

and dust has a lot of dirt in it,

if by dirt I mean soil, which I do,

and because stairs are dirt collectors

they can be said to be fond of dirt,

and dirt can be said to feel loved by stairs

and so what might seem at first glance inert

is in truth an orgy of appreciation,

and that is why any time you see or travel

stairs, you should try to keep in mind

their great love of dirt and the greatness

of dirt being loved.