H. sapiens

I look at how
the man has become.

In the 80s

he used to carry
a briefcase

and walk

like a tooth
pick. Tan leather,

disco awkward.


Awkward
when he ripped

off the leather.

The village,
moon-awesome.

The pallor

of human flesh gone
ape-shit

into the ether.

The Page

Today,
like a manatee

with 2 human hands

prying
at the earth.

This is the moment

of the caterpillar.
the moment

of a leaf

between its branch
and the ground.

A single page

of life's story
with its high beams

on you,

skeleton black
eyes of autumn.

Raspberries

*
I don't know
whether to think

it was a good
thing or a bad

thing, but as I came
by with the blower,

the bird's
wings opened

and it took flight
one last time

into a sacred raspberry
memorial.


*
A sacred memory:

The summer
you reached your hand

out to me
and offered your fruit.

The Egg Van

*
I was stopped
by Barnum
and Bailey's Circus

train. A rainy
September day
in Elkhart, Indiana.

*
I am the stunt
man in the minivan
preparing to jump the tracks.

This is my job.

Unconsummated

For One Thousand
and One Nights I slept
under your half-moon eyes.

Exodus

Did you see the wilderness within me

And come to tear down the sky between us—

My Midwestern dream-face

Shackled in her Arabian Nights.

We shared the Red Sea

on the banks of the Saint Joe.

I wonder, was it Moses who rose

His staff in the air and separated us forever?

Agrarian

What is it?!
In the corn field
like a petrified

raptor's eye

beaming my
ancient hominin?!?
It comes in rows

cracked naked

over a scarecrow's kneecap.
the smack & cheek!
the scream-profile

of a stinkbug,

the ones with faces
like a mummy's
imaginary child

Just got slapped like a corncob!
your aaaahhhh-mouth
could be a case

of the billies:

Rolls get buttered!
Line up your ducks!
That violent stickshift

in cryptic Indiana,

that ain't nobody's labradoodle!

Gale

What happened to the birds?

This morning,

they were wild

like a zoologist's

play toy.


And what happened to the deer?

they have vanished

from the graveyard

in the breeze

of September's napalm.

        (I can only imagine coyotes).

Traps

Beneath the proto-
skeleton

or

I could be behind the eye
of the crowbar.

The beak and its
Babylonian

rag bone,
open

your mouth for
the heaven,

shocked, startled, jaw
dropped

like an old photo
in the antique

shop of the 21st century.

Startled

The strange feeling

you get when

you see your age

in someone else’s face:

Your eyes are frantic

and I wonder

what you’re looking for.

I mean, what are you

Looking for in my face?

Or is it my eyes?

Which map are you studying?

Tired Toad

I saw a sleeping toad today
and patted him on the head
he rolled and stretched
and blinked his eyes
and then when back to bed.

The Flailing

Like a wolf

floating confused

     above the clouds

I need time.

to understand

     what's happening.

Spheres

When the sun dies it will lay eggs
in the moon's reflection. Animals
will be lead by strings to solve puzzles
and skeletons will unearth themselves

in attics.

A stone bridge will draw,
in the distance,
spawning
new parts
to keep the gene flow

drifting.

Spider

I have a pet spider 
in my office and he's like 

the greatest guy ever. 

He descends 
from the fluorescent 

light fixture 

on the ceiling 
and hops around my workspace 

all day. 

I was hoping he would 
show up again today 

and here he is; 

my little buddy. 
We are so on the same wavelength.

Love Sport

We were
catching
fish and
letting
them go,

Catching
fish and
letting
them go.