...love my machine...

garden like this makes spinning hoof floaters of us all
canister creators filing the holdings of dormant estates
dream thieves and sales force of the depleted
fresh like meat to cleave

soft tissue mush and this vista screams magic words
feet pile on feet pile on feet
knick-knack scrubbers and gizmo cudgellers
a line up of x’d out eyes

fountain
here
pours so fresh
makes me want to slay

arf 06

...briefed...

plastic podium stands tall like horse
to child

making its way through heaven

they call this the feed

hunting a legacy
standing knee deep in other peoples dreams
this keeps
happening

the twentieth time the
first look
exclusive
never before aired
behind the scenes
scoop

someone get elvis
this motherfucker needs to be shot

arf 06

...reaching for the chase...

skylights beam stolen reality
to the story
forming outside my window

flames lick like coughing from deep

candy soaked voluptuous frenzy
and craning the neck to see

sending
sending

chapter after chapter
dancing out the plot
but floundering at the points of character greatness
the story presents itself
as more
than the players could ever be

scores of torches and quick thunder recess
driving
scalding
from the scene

do not cross
do not make amends
do not
tear the flesh at the pressure points

there is meaning
and there is horror
as the story spills itself
on the pages before me

candid
fearful moments
bidding you good night

feathers tickle the throat and throbbing

forgotten
the theatre
and the magic

of sending myself
out
on a branch that may
not hold

and there i find the story
finding me
and becoming
more

arf '98

...gift graft...

shimmer darling shimmer
hold fireflies in each part of your big soul
crackle the flames hopped up on a longless plateau
this is a hoop
don't jump

careen into place
nudge the foggy gone
scale like dart and who's gonna believe
the band
when they belt out this tune

haggard and doubled over
past that
run from that
vultures only eat what is left behind

take xylophone steps through horn section plains
cunning is the way
and dredged is the other path

marvel

this view is yours
you diamond shining mad mad mad against all storms
parlay and harvest and make full
no more could be vested
for all there is
is this

arf 06

...long night's drive...

the owl swoops over the windshield
heart darts back to search so frozen
long strides
deep steps
the hum of the engine grins the way these thoughts tickle my head

salt filled wind and a no shake morning
the man outside is giving away free car washes
i know
because he keeps yelling it

you stop where you want to stop

it seems to be raining ice cream again
just hold out a banana
and split

the sign says four hundred and thirty two
miles
and the owl says
the journey will be mice free

the car does need washing
and a treat sounds good
but i don't think i believe that owl
so it may be best to guard our little meals

you go where you want to go

arf 06

...underworked...

hymnal count against the wall
strange people glide like ocean
the braggarts reverberate
but never collapse

like forgotten hoovervilles the swell flows
watering down dreams already made of nightmarishly small victories
numbing accounts of no one singing at all
golden hands tossing rotten crumbs

this margin is a giant with godawful eyesight
lumbering like a noose jerks
a press ground band aid answer
after bumbling question seeps

along a line there is no fortune
no switch back to real
a sweet storm blowing out the candles
last chance dealt a losing hand

-arf 06