Time

The eyes
from the skull

flicker

the light
from the lamp.

The flame is now.

Foul Ball

In elementary school
music class,

I was handed
the wooden block.

In my audition
for the talent show

I tucked my knees
into a pair of sweats

and danced like wild
to "People are Strange,"

continuos footless pirouettes
until my knees began to bleed.

I had to perform in front of
the special ed class.

The crowd went wild
my teacher did not.

She just pressed stop
on the tape player

when I was done
and said, "Ok, Jeff. Thanks."

I never did get to be in the talent show.

Preparing for the Next Wave

That day marked the end
of our epic summer.

We roasted hotdogs
over the fire

and drank
bloody marys.

I had a Panama Jack tan.

We couldn't afford wetsuits
going to college and all.

That's the main reason
we turned our backs

to the surf.

A cold north-west wind
came in that afternoon

and we rode it all the way home,
never looking back.

Three years have passed
since then and I graduate in May.

I'm buying a wetsuit.

August 8th

We were so stoked
that mid-summer

afternoon,

when the crop duster
swooped down

and increased our buzz.

I was compelled
to take off all my cloths,

so I did.

And leaped off the deck
like one of the dogs

disturbing

the cloud of bluegill below.

Star

Estrella
era
una
perrita.

She
looked
like a
chupacabra.

Tigre

Tigre

the rooftop dog

was lofty,


physically,

mentally

and

SPIRITUALLY!

At Sea

Night sneaks in like a manatee,
a large cryptic body beneath an

infinite pin-pricked sky.

I slide the anthracite
jacket slowly over my shoulders

and drift with the tide.

Dead fish wash up onto the shore,
lidless eyes like constellations.

I think I see my pegasus.

Kiwi

Perhaps,
I'm a baby

dinosaur

trapped in
a man's body.

I'm a hellhound
for a bowl of

fruit.

I'm an angel
with canines to tear

flesh.

I'm running
from the

darkness,

so I must
be in the

light.

The light
is the

carnival

body of
an asteroid

and

I'm coming
home for dinner.

Animals

I love you

and want you

to know

that I get

all emotional.

Please take care of the dog.

Please feed the fish.

The gecko needs to be fed

live crickets powdered in a calcium

supplement. I'm afraid

that their bones

will become brittle,

that they will

all become

mashed-up

behind some distant

wall

of

Stone.

Cryptoidal Mania

*
The jagged
skeletal debris

of yard fauna.

The shadow
of a great ape

possibly.

*
The congregation
is shocked--

beneath

the faces of the river.

1993

It's a bummer
not to have
padding under
the carpet,

but it's really
not an issue.
It's my slow
spinning record

of a body,
no needle
to remind
my skin

of the touch.

I used to wax-
remedial as a kid.
The lyric sheets
of tape cassettes

unfolded
all around me.
I wipe a tear
from my eye and

smile because
I look like a wild cat
with my hair

way up high.

Alone, but Not

The three round
burn marks on
your inner thigh.

"Devices...

...seen

"in the river valley..."

"eyes like vacant lochs...

lights."

Your birthplace,
the stuff of ancient maps,
a lost wav. file.

"removed...

...to cultivate."

...the cryptic nature..."

"primate mutilation...

"of a...


"...triangular incision."

Things that Make me Feel Sad

Tonight,
I killed
the tinniest
spider
with
the
eraser
of my
mechanical
Bic
pencil.

One hour later...

Another spider.
I smashed
it on the 2nd
place
fiction
winner.

#131,
grandpa's
ashes.