Death

An entire world lost its mother today An entire world got the news Somewhere on a California highway An entire world full of children Women and men Going north, south, east and west Each one with a mother inside each of them Even if their mother is just an empty space Left behind by her absence And yes, there is even a mother in that man Who only speaks of knives and steak Make no...

Man, you could build a whole brand around this thing Handle the snakes And orchestrate all kinds of glittery manifestations Jittery hands and holy demonstrations Slippery tongues and wordless intonations Oh you don’t speak em? Just take some words and tweak em That’s right, that’s the ticket Show it to the man at the door And he’ll tell you where to stick it But just between you and me? Forget it It’s not a brand...

Out of the eater Comes something to eat And out of the reader Comes something to read...   You may find me in town Or at home resting my feet We’ll discuss the numbers Of money, milk, and meat We’ll entertain the angels Without offering a seat We’ll speak of the devil Without feeling the heat But this meeting of minds Will remain incomplete This is only my shell With which you meet   I’m...

It’s the word that was spoken Before I was sent To a world collapsing Under its own colorless night   I looked with my eyes And saw my failures multiplied An abandoned house Ashes and rust Self destruction Egos blazing like guns And rampant consumption Of this body Of earth And water Of flesh And blood   But these are not the words   And this is not the book   This isn’t a stairway...

What was it? I’ll tell you what it was It was a dragon A fire-of-hell-breathing dragon A black beast of death-muscle-and-teeth dragon   And I was no hero I was a child Afraid of the night So I fled from that beast   I buried myself in the earth And deep under the sea I built my own prison And bore the darkened marks On my flesh Where the concrete walls Taught me with their...

I am many things I am a roller coaster I am an overpriced funnel cake I am a long line for a short ride I am in on the take I am an unneeded traffic roundabout I am the price of gasoline I am pretty sure that I am self-doubt I am the spent remains of the Fourth of July I am climate change I am the spit in your eye I am death on...

Humboldt County The house we call our own Her laughter now fills this home It defies logic and reason And all good doctrine It sets sharply against The crushing weight of debt And doubt It ripples down the hall Like waves that dance On an ocean that will drown you Without thinking twice   From the depths I think about thirty different things All at once I should have painted more often And maybe wrote...

In the home where I grew up A porcelain monk lived on the kitchen counter Belly full of cookies Admonishing us not to steal Back when the house was full of sneaky fingers   I saw him enter the kitchen one day 30 years ago Something clearly wrong Part of him had vanished Struggling for the words To tell me that my grandpa was gone His father The pastor The preacher Thou Shalt Not Steal...

As you know We held your memorial last weekend While your laughter still hung in the air Like chandeliers From the heavy wooden beams Of the empty sanctuary You’ve left us   Where we reminded ourselves For a time, times, and half a time again That you would have heard by now “Well done, good and faithful servant…” Words of acceptance Approval Even affection That we all so long to hear   Yes, there were...

Heather Road Long Beach, California The actual street sign Hung on the wall In her room down the hall   She was just a child Leading a rebellion With discarded toys Striking out At them At us At herself And though she made a fool of the enemy Throughout the Ten Year War She lost the final battle yesterday And now she’s gone   She left home too soon There was heaviness in the entry...