Scattered Thundershowers This Afternoon
The forecast didn't call for principalities and powers. In toppling heaps of alabaster balanced overhead They hung, silently swelling, for apprehensive hours, Filled full with holy water and rejuvenating dread. Somebody called down judgment on...
Ragnarok - II
The sun was gone. The only light that shone Was a reflection off the fading sky, Yet faded not the gold out of the roof, For, at the touch of darkness, fireflies, Lit crisp like Christmas candles, Appeared and turned the leaves to paper...
Introduction to The Lone and Level Sands Stretch Far Away
We met two travelers to an antique land. Across the haunted stars they came in search-- While newly mated, newly hand in hand-- Of shattered remnant visage in the dirt. The one has eyes on knowledge and renown And seeks the truth whatever it may...
Shen's Song
If I had wings like Noah's dove I'd fly up the river to the one I love. I'd fly up the river. Wouldn't stay around Where I got troubles to hold me down. I'd say farewell, all my troubles, Fare thee well. I got no money for to buy my meal. Oh my...
I Think About Revenge Most Every Day
I think about revenge most every day. I pray for it, to it. I draw its eye. I hive its hissing hornets in my heart. I wear its mask and mantle. People say They do not understand how you can live Like that. No more do I! Yet nonetheless I must...
Dear Concerned Estranged
I saw that you left me a voicemail. I noticed you sent me a card. I know you're expecting an answer, But finding the time is so hard. The gods and the ghosts outside waiting, The skies underfoot in the street, The sunsets in sun-scented...
Blank Verse Essay on the Haunting of America
If you tell stories long enough my friend, I think, if you are honest, you must own That stories told here, told about here, try To turn into ghost stories. Only by Supreme and rigid force of will can you Tell any story in this land of ours And...
A Town Called Yesterday
It was somewhere in the riverlands I found it by the shore, A town lit just with christmas lights. I'd swear I'd been before. The sun was down, the tide was out, the wind was in the west. And since it looked so peaceful there, I sat me down to...
Accompanied by Tornado Siren
Let us suppose that all things human fall. That topless tower and tin-walled hovel both Go down, that all the laws are soothless scrawl, That sons of man no longer care for truth. It has to happen sometime. Why not now? What mankind plants,...
I Switch Off All The Lights
I switch off all the lights. Those that I love Are all abed, both in the other room And all across the city that I love. I see my way across the meagre room And to the too-tall curtains by the light Of thrift-store stained-glass lamp, by oven...
Obituary Instructions
Do not call me an angel, when I'm gone. Mourn me, revere me--or not, as you choose-- But as the human person that I was. An angel is a pure celestial thing Too absolute and too ethereal For earthly things like woe or weariness, For home and...
Break the Circle
I went walking by the harbor As the day went down to dark. I went searching through my sorrows For a place to rest my heart. Will the circle be unbroken By and by? By and by? Is a better home awaiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky? There...