The way we made meaning
in the forests
before we cleared everything away
How crucial to know what colors mean
and how their movements among
silent trunks
so easily missed
Found these round
leaving of deer some
days old
Some days ago
found this shit
and how their movements
scald the ridge
Come lay in these brown leaves
come touch beneath heat we
come from
Come fuck me death until
nights wear us like water’s repetition
Wafer of way-faring moon
My tongue fills the land
up
I’m making friends
with the crows
because they recognize me
even in faint flicker drawn
heart intact
She was sad
trying to match her body
with fear to others
I watched sunrise
so clouded
Everyone asleep
breathing same dream
Thickened glass
to gash her arms
Up up and away
the crows are sitting
in their bare trees
mourning us
When my time comes
will trees stretch the ground
as far as sleep can reach
as far as the eyes fall
will autumn be something to touch
clawing at mud walls
or will winter pine for cracks
for an intimacy of fire
In what way will this time
be mine
to sink into the dreams
of all the men who walked before
and to feel that I lived that
a few minutes before
for Lindsay
An army travels on its stomach
in front of you. Mine is just inches away
from where we last saw our comfort
in each other, interupted by some
running around. Yesterday, alone,
I filmed the willow changing over sunset.
There was no film involved, but I still say
filming, like I still want to show it to you.
Full of reds, golds, bowl of high school
drama club stars, it’s just standing there
while inch by inch grades of colors steepen.
They say our country stinks of war now,
that you know this repose, cupped by trees
and learning how to scale with evening,
eats blood, has always eaten blood.
I can only think dazedly about that,
because right now we have enough to eat,
and the last light leaves rusty trails as she goes
I forget about the energy it takes
in giving up to you what is caesar’s
will on the people, like a meaty thumb
I forget about the cost and the gain
what sets them apart
Where there’s no difference
the Federal Government steps in and
overseas we’re eating grass and leaves
Back then we were waiting for vikings
forever on the beach, cheating debt
Clovis, I says, what if we just
stopped giving much of a fuck
to corrupt and lonely clerks
who give you the business
I guess it depends on how much we have left, huh
I had sworn for years that this was where I lived