star craving

none of this is us
a glitter spiked tiara
a flakey fiction
crust

none of this is how
we smooth the jagged peaks
we calm the maddened cow

none of this is why
we made the rubber chicken
we wear the patterned tie

none of this is what
we signed up for in the beginning
why we left the holy hut

none of this adding
to our fortune, free love, flight
with the covers on our lanterns
we're caught star craving in dark night

crayola spring

watch how nature spreads her seed
millions cast out in between
the cracks in sidewalks
the weathered shoe
sticking to sweaters
like a pioneer's glue

lifted by wind
to foreign places
hard skinned shells
without their faces
tiny blueprints
start up kits
next generation
keystone pits

a selfless shot
a super spree
a sacrifice for the continuation
of the next round in need

a plunk in the gutter
a snack for the sea
an itch in the creases
of a lover's twisted sheets

a grain for dark corners
a fleck for the beak
of a tomato feathered cardinal
flying through
crayola spring

so pass out your prism
your poetry and prong
hook the hungry wanders
hot press your pleasant song

invest in life
submerge the murky swamp
pass out your template -
a descending message
on and on

movement towards free

i hope that one day
when i see you on tv
i'll flashback to this beginning
ramon noodles, scratched up knees

to these late nights in astoria
colored porches, city breeze
walking sockless round the corner
to see plastic, lit up trees

to these triangle
sandwiches and
pregnant pots of tea
before we split in two directions
like a bunny's crashing skiis

to these talks of will and focus
and what to feed
our dreams
how the riches that we pined for
were the times that came for free

i hope that when i see you
see you on tv
you'll be glowing from the knowing
kindly noted for your "please"

thank you for the singing
for the strumming of my strings
from the corner of my matress
comes the movement
towards free

live in twos

straw sticks
in sticky shoots
like squashed up birdsnests
to the souls of these boots

snow crackles round
the lakes frozen blue
the parts fit together
with invisible glue

we're tired of the battle
the grocery aisle's choose
the model's puckered lips
the crazy man's ques

the smokies poke their ledges
toward the plaster of the moon
crosswinds lining up the grasses
like a weaver's rythmic loom

we've got our tanks and tonkas
we've got our dirty dues
our wireless negotiations
our dusty, unused pews

the birds are kind and feathered
beaks pecking at my shoes
with their tiny tear dropped bodies
they shift my wordly views

we don't have to live in twos
mixed up story, mother goose
the workings of the inner world's
not blinking on the news

return to shine

---------------------------------photo christina poindexter


at what point
was your army built?
your tires popped?
your jewels spilt?

your mirror draped?
your eyes drawn?
your costume shed
from queen to pawn?

your windows fogged?
your horses tied?
your eggs dropped?
your wires fried?

your chapel burned?
your trial tried?
your judgement learned?
your dream box pried?

pin you villian -
the cause of blind
open tenderly
return to shine

now here's the story

------------------------------------photo susi white


now here's the story
of a place so cold palms
rubbed themselves together
to have something close to hold

the sacred sites and chapels
lost their faces to the mold
grown by the foggy tongues of liars
who left the truth untold

give us strength
to slay these dragons
give us faith
to lose control
with the smokey eyes of battle
grant us grace
to unfold

we fled from eve's garden
abandoned the knoll
where the mother served her blessings
and the angels took parole

the saints have all gone running
put down their holy poles
they poked portals in the heavens
and are slipping through the holes

fifty foot flames

you pry apart the lips
of a fifty cent lawn chair
garage sale bargain
lock jawed with sea air

there's nothing in this town
but a lost child's theater
you'd passed my house
a thousand times
though you didn't know
i lived there

why does it take
fifty foot flames
for us to walk across the street
to learn
our neighbors names

the shingles slide like playing cards
the windows melt like taffy
the door frames snap like toothpicks
smoke bitter brown as coffee

you're flushed with blush- igneous
fire fingers flick at us
we take a turn to watch it burn
a heated urn
to love
love
we love to learn
we learn to burn
we burn to learn
we burn to learn

you pry apart the lips
of a fifty cent lawn chair
garage sale bargain
lock jawed with sea air