forty %

signal to the engineer (m)

2011-08-25T15:12:00.001-04:00

what leaks
over which
cables sleep
with fishes
under litres
of coca-cola

weight

2011-08-23T18:21:00.000-04:00

the carpet is
a puke resistant floral patchwork
my face against the wall
five fingers pushing flesh to brick
each breath a gasp
two fifty clutched in a fist

lepidoptical illusive

2011-08-23T10:06:00.001-04:00

wish you were
if wishes were anything
more than here
again
sweating sentiment through mountains of affect
of acne and dampness
loneliness and black dog,
of bereft, turned to some imagined you,
gold dust at sundown sparkly like
light itself, warmth
buried like a lifetime of Hiroshimas
generations of Kashmir, dry powdered,
potential apocalypse
wanted,
just not enough

gabilan

2011-03-28T20:22:00.003-04:00

imagination limns a curve of spine
enumerating vertebrae
whispering 'mine'

how deep you are in this

2011-03-21T11:44:00.000-04:00

game plays different
every time
though certain tenets do persist

efforts to undo one another
tirelessly manifest
in the record

incineration seems arbitrary
no matter how deep you are in this

slashfeatherpressure

2011-01-07T08:47:00.003-05:00

experienced lapse
a sinewy silence seeps
armours like blankets

i should not write this poem

2010-06-20T08:53:00.002-04:00

thinner, part 1

2010-03-09T04:37:00.003-05:00

spread across the floor
as spilt as milk
naked and arcane
akin to death

it felt wrong, this restructuring
of self, around the absence
of without who she was
indefinite

petals without stem
in water without glass
and when he appeared
seldom as sun
she angled toward him
withered and starved

hated this trying
to coalesce
from disparate states
of distress and doubt

she heard drums
and wondered once what they were
they sounded a tide
sorrow swelling in a sea too choked to flow
with ebb and with eddy it beat subtly steady
down the door she was trying to pass through

cling

2010-02-15T07:35:00.003-05:00

dried blood cements flesh to stone
calloused toes flex in forgotten footholds
dizzy from trying to remember the last time

pride burned your name from my tongue

zen vipers

2010-01-15T03:45:00.004-05:00

we crashed at rope
closed out your couch

in the air
hung faceless
husks of selves

make sure as you fall

2009-02-17T08:40:00.003-05:00

where i've been before.
a ghostly buzz an alien shiver
a pulse out of phase
a different person gasping
in the grip of falling
between who i was and without you

pop

2009-01-12T06:16:00.002-05:00

i wanted
to put my fingers in your mouth

each
one by one

before
or after

an impeccable tautology

2007-06-11T10:08:00.002-04:00

nevermind

2007-06-06T19:21:00.000-04:00

the nights
the slides against
the moves away from
nonchalance
towards absence

i've been waiting all night for you
this is everything
you are belief
you are salvation

I am flesh, bound
until you untie me

i feel lost

2007-05-18T02:10:00.000-04:00

the world i know has turned to clay
the thing of it smothered beneath

i am full of petty wants
and lumber through the days

refire

2007-05-05T10:37:00.001-04:00

our whats are more
comprehensive than others
with a clear connection
we chain to each other,
repeat

this is where the men with the dogs were

2007-04-13T22:10:00.000-04:00

to be free
to be on fire, at least

everything, always
all spark in the coronaed
slow explosion

burning to nothing
novel nova
little star
baby blackwhole

built for everything;
ignominy aside

the see-through lepidoptoptimist

2007-04-10T23:49:00.000-04:00

are pinned under
or collapsed against

briskly, i suppose

in by the coalbin

2007-03-25T12:23:00.001-04:00

dragged
sooted and besotted

to burn and crumble
with the rest

the paragon of city girls

2006-11-08T23:45:00.000-05:00

this ugly and horrific mix
of gouging blade and soft flesh

in heat, in sweat
i can only extricate in agony

every crackhead always breaks my heart

2006-10-31T01:22:00.000-05:00

the smell tears me up inside
not subtle, but small
acrid tendrils tiny and everywhere
the smell of burning plastic,
of a soul rendered inert
before set fire to

lips impassioned pucker
a boneless reflex
like fish flopping toward water

eyes smoothed to glass by smoke
flickering brief with shame
white flags waving a weak challenge

a sad enjoyment

w?

2006-10-16T06:52:00.000-04:00

i'm not strong enough
i'm too lazy
take your pick

and i know what you're going to say
so let's not have a conversation
i already know the end of

time

2006-10-16T01:03:00.000-04:00

nothing drastic will be happening here tonight
put everything away and sleep
forget everything and dream

nothing is waiting for you
tomorrow is already over
even if you don't remember it

i want to say that i care
that hating you makes a difference
but the hours just churn emptily

jade sunset

2006-10-14T09:39:00.000-04:00

it's 6 o'clock
a walk west along a beam, this orange sunset
as if it were quantifiable, this light
that changes everything
as if it can be here, and not here
states separated by half an hour

you pour out some of this sunlight
seeping into you
into as few words
as the spectacular will comfortably fit

the weight

2006-10-02T23:40:00.000-04:00

put your knee in my back
and make yourself heavy

i have no more to give
save this sinking into earth

i cannot give back breaths taken
nor hearts stolen

this is all i am,
yours

in the palm of the lotus

2006-10-02T02:20:00.000-04:00

firmly seated for an instant eternity
the opening of an eye
an uncrossing of arms
like petals curling

untitled

2006-09-17T05:35:00.000-04:00

attempts at replicating
immediacy
by removing the membrane of idiom

circuit breaker of a thousand bulbs

2006-06-11T14:58:00.000-04:00

how did you find
that bank of switches in my heart
that lights a thousand bulbs

please tell me how to turn them on

nothing for you

2006-04-26T11:32:00.000-04:00

i have nothing save for want of you

i'm starving empty
made room for all the devouring
for all the filling up of all the spaces missing
with lost things i'll try to pull out of your gaze
and meaningless meanings i'll infuse into every vision of you

will you wander my dreams if i beg
if i supplicate and keep your wine cup full

and?

2006-04-25T07:04:00.000-04:00

she was vicious
in an unconscious drunken monkey kind of way
someone that cute and intelligent develops edges
sharp and fuzzy depending on the direction of the rub

she made eyes from a while away
like she was looking for trouble

she sauntered a gauntlet of sycophants
towards me
and said hi and her name

we looked at each other a lot
and with her superwoman heat vision
she lit little fires across the landscape of my psyche

she nursed red wine and struggled
under the weight of important things to say

i shouldered as much of her burden as i could
but even in the silken rasp of her drunk hoarse rambling
i found distaste for such quixotic sisyphyxions

amongst other noirish apparatus:
her cock-blocking companion,
an escapee from crystal meth country
sweating profusely
threw flimsy walls in our way
but she burned through them with bloodshot eyes
she shouted them down with vagabond melodies bellowed from the bathroom

when i left she said she loved me
or that i was lovely
whichever it was, there was urgency in it

but there's always urgency at closing time,
like the whole world is about to shut down
and you haven't found a skirt to crawl under
and ride it out

a warning to conference

2006-03-29T10:35:00.000-05:00

as worthless as a genie in a bottle
as worthless as a crack whore's smile

fuck you you fucking bitch

2006-03-03T00:03:00.000-05:00

this is hell
its only love

its always like this
whither innocence

im on fire
it feels good

i refuse to believe the lie:
the botox headline carved in your face

this is scary
it feels good

it burns a lifetime
warm amusements for cold gods

a twist of soul results in revulsion
gods love burns like fire

extinguish with purple flame
i cant bear witness to

the deal

2006-02-18T02:38:00.000-05:00

when bargains go unpaid for
debts are reconciled over centuries
accidents of emotional duress determine
who you owe what

mystery

2006-01-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

a spiral arrayed in rotation, turning
the same point aligned against the light again

i'm lost in it
wherever you are

so kneeling
kneeling

restored to the vast
emptiness of unknowing

i'm yours

engagements with sharpened toolery

2006-01-21T17:29:00.000-05:00

wretched outside of any nightmare
with hacking and sawing set to begin
and the rending of joints complete
begins the sharpening of blades

between slavery and entertainment
are gaps filled in with groupthink

the crowd roars questions
only blood and violation can answer truthfully

in the reflection of the see-thru man

2006-01-18T19:40:00.001-05:00

i wipe my lips with my tongue
i taste your name as my own
broken, imperfect and illumined

it burns
my mouth can't fit around the sound
choking, aflame, dry heaving who you are

i capitulate
and forget you

punish / dispense

2006-01-14T05:01:00.000-05:00

the permutations of burned out mythology
spread diverge multiply
belief is a trap
faith is a trap
devotion is a trap

there is surety in the death industry
commandments and conscience
can only interfere with such disposition

mine

2006-01-14T00:50:00.000-05:00

what am i thinking?
perched over this

small broken winged thing

flimsy

2006-01-10T23:58:00.000-05:00

i've nodded off at the table in the window
that doesn't exist anymore

amidst the hopeful, the jittery,
the eager and the desirous

something outside is aflame
i inhale, sample the smoke
the ash and the air

i remember burnt things
the doubtful praise of rock music
the surreal squealing of late night trains
the fitful moanings of their inhabitants

are the collapsing shadows
slumped against the rusted benches
the same or renewed?

aspect/whole

2005-12-13T21:42:00.000-05:00

in proximity the singing is too much
the resonance rings to cracking

it's been two years
the less i care about it
the less i care about everything

"see now you can't start fights like ya used to mikey
you only got one hand!"

they all laughed and i raised my tallboy
and i danced like a monkey on the pool table
and loved the way liza looked at me
her face bathed bronze in the lamplight

screwed

2005-12-03T01:50:00.000-05:00

to recover the imagined
brief and decidual

with horror hang
accessories on porcelain

stable

2005-11-26T12:17:00.000-05:00

it was warm

a peace implicated
outside time
granted no refusal

power lay etched
in imaginary boundaries
its existence threatening

america/world

2005-11-10T07:54:00.001-05:00

reflexively lips curl bulbous over teeth
more, her breath hot, she says

slavery

2005-10-15T04:19:00.000-04:00

if you have more than you need
you are profiting from misery

yes you
fucking loser

as it comes, always

2005-09-03T06:23:00.000-04:00

at this intersection, of light, of
sound of character and desire, of
dew-ridden gossamer heavy in city heat,
we will reveal everything, the underneath of
the messy thing, the fetid soil of dissatisfaction
and unchecked want.

either way, the story tells itself.

recursion in artefaction

2005-08-19T08:17:00.000-04:00

when the razor barbed flywheel severs
and flies off the rails
who will clean up after?

downfold

2005-08-16T21:40:00.000-04:00

bellies full of fire
hands a tremulous quiver
mouths poised to hail heaven
fat with implicit awareness
here we are

but first:
lightning so brilliant it burns
permanence in instance

so much changes so quickly
in thunderclap wake
there is only the long last
exhaustive rasp against silent sky

rapture answers praise with oblivion

the word place,
as in to be in one,
ceases to have meaning

swallow

2005-06-25T01:16:00.000-04:00

fresh air like razors
the moon a giant gash
waiting to swallow me
and i am called along

amovore

2005-06-18T15:16:00.000-04:00

all that she had
was all the love in the world

with that she hoped
to stave off hunger
at least until morning

stars

2005-06-17T20:17:00.000-04:00

more firm
firmament of bone

than sallow flash
of near bright sun

than distant twinkle
of deprecated constellations

solicits desirous

2005-06-02T00:53:00.000-04:00

you're in the database
out of greed

the future works
what story?
the fantastically obese and the ordinary
overspill

serpentine strokes of color
blurring to tv set approximation

you need not pay attention
everything is out of control

do you want to be happy?

this is free

2005-05-25T03:12:00.000-04:00

sticky
we peeled apart
lay drying, cold in sunday sun

i don't blame him, you said

lazed and fucked, we
lazed and fucked
another hour

trying to corner enigma without angles

2005-04-29T02:25:00.000-04:00

what drowns moths in questions
impossible chased sans sympathy
in pursuit of where
awaiting apprehension of when

tossed in tempest
turning and down
and over and down
terrified
remember me

the tiniest evil

2005-04-05T02:20:00.000-04:00

from boom to bust and back
a gyre's ambit ever narrows
halfing and halfing into infinite approximation
legions reflected in the seamless gaze

chronochromata

2005-03-17T06:01:00.000-05:00

empty places blare at me the way your absence does

eyes drawn to every where you are not
every day is a revolution around
the hole where you used to be

leaving me where sand met water
and the world rocked aqua for a second
everywhere heavy with the tint of blue

i want this, or the outline at least

an aspect of breakage

2005-03-16T09:54:00.000-05:00

there she was -
screaming silently all her facets
worthy, each in its distraction of description

but the worlds overwhelmed me

that happened a long time ago
and there's a more accurate way of putting it:
the knowledge of the words overwhelmed me

in their absence, experienced previously
i found nothing to fear
and only a room which housed hunger

as inevitably hunger housed me

boom

2005-03-15T11:42:00.000-05:00

humbled, red knots tighten
in the interstice between time
tissue ready to disentegrate or explode
tangled in blood the beat goes on

heavy lifting machines of love and time

2005-03-14T18:56:00.000-05:00

anyway you want

and miles to go
and endless seconds

it's nice to have you to talk to

you

2005-03-14T04:00:00.000-05:00

flush with supernova urgency
dispatch me, dissolute
to struggle with facets
of glittered gifts given

quantum emotional acrobatics

2005-03-13T16:11:00.000-05:00

the amount is irrelevant
your love expands to fit
the distance from you to me
and the time taken to cross it

sky grey morning

2005-03-12T21:50:00.000-05:00

buried in halcyon blankets of suburban morning
i turn until i'm tied up in the beginning of the day

nothing ever stops happening

2005-01-05T06:37:00.001-05:00

silver stud and red straw
slicked with scotch
flickered with candlelight

hand to hand communication

2004-12-16T21:07:00.000-05:00

a 2 drink minimum
between the popeye's
and the dunkin donuts

a detour, missed in a blink
like lovers shadowed
against a wall

down an alley non-existent
except for now and then

under life's side streets
paths unbeaten like skin
taut and untested

pulled too tight
at the slightest touch
they sever and circle closer

pork vellum

2004-12-16T21:05:00.000-05:00

against pages of ephemera
glutenous in patent

prismatic penmanship
sails salient
impossible

the next perihelion

2004-12-16T20:43:00.000-05:00

murky nights
cold endeavors

an adventurous duo take shelter
under the iron work

a forgotten city
a population oblivious