lone wolf

everything here comes from somewhere
far away in dream memory
tibetan prayer wheels spinning mantras,
thangkas, prayer flags, delicate chinese snuff bottles

old tomb warriors guarding shy women
caught in foreign relationships
living in clever crowded cities

historical's mysterious misery
world children - slaving for a $ a day

geringsing - magical protective purity cloth -
village families inside dyed dried earth roots,
compose wood backstrap looms -

collect bone bead dust, Tarim Basin knives,
kata scarves, camel hair watercolor brushes, jade dragons,
fragments & filaments of unbroken bone conversations

lying lost
scattered among language bones
charred beyond recognition
spewing marrows masses
coagulating
endless sorrow
caught behind young bright burning eyes

o shining star
exploding grenades send mind shrapnel
scattering bodies left right center
'hut one two three, left right left right'
cadence at 19 shaven down to the quick -

the quick and the dead
thrust it home boys
cardboard statues stand in dream fields
dust dark dogs bark
among steel concrete jungle hospitals

reach for dictionaries
language tongues hang by a thread
woven on paper mache rattan rattles

dancing laughing loving caught leaning leaping
in death's direction
at crossroads, intersections, byways, highways -
no speed limit
along soft shoulders,
yielding signs of life

longest moon night

we dance on the lawn of death
with your canine teeth at my throat

thunder clouds
rise in the west
thunder blows sax
broken streets
old man’s shopping cart
lined with plastic bags full of cans

homeless indigents
beggars – bodhisatvas
hard hatted lunch bucket brigade
watching the girls
‘another mule is kicking in my stall’

look at that will ya’
it’s a classic – pay attention all the time
nomads in the world – a bird call – solitary golak raven

how is this
amazing blaze of fury’s dancing
mixed w/laughter, living and loving
you’re facing it now
people cast into shadows
and only the shadow knows
everyone
hidden behind their shadow
chasing shadows, illusions
feeding imaginary needs

eating mountain fire and wave fire
whales pirouette down their territorial depths

ballet dancers on point
balance a machete
hacking their way through turbulent undergrowth
coming at them in cloud waves
exposing lightning bolts
ghosts smoke
fire in the hole!

above calm surface
lives full of wonderland
delight and never-ending mysterious
unfold precious discoveries

wrapped in smooth emotional fabrics
complete with pulsating heart vibrations
washing sunsets
lips pressed
against diamond dew drops
eternity's smelling
small world’s wind color—
blue, yellow, red, white, green

laughter O joy
traces earth - rocks are her bones
grass and trees her hair
water her blood
drop by drop
gathering light
smelling sea peace

in a window a woman irons dreams
a globe, books, razor penciled paper

inside a paramedic van,
red, orange strobs
is a trapped man
and someone is screaming, “where is his vein?”

bones around my neck
carved human skulls
ward off shadows – protection from evil spirits

bones are a heavy weight considering they are dust

bones, bones, caressing the bones

she is a Lung-ta Tibetan wind horse
peace compassion strength wisdom
flying into elders' dreams
manifesting forgiveness
on her path

moving through fire
dancing on death's lawn
with her canine teeth at my throat

poet as language worker

Semi-truck roars through Lafayette Happy Valley
Spilling Cascade paper products on word winds

Rolls of newspaper headlines
Boxes of books and periodicals
Sheets of carefully scented toilet paper
Packages of 401K forms
2000 year old papyrus calendars for RA
Lists of pending to-dos
Bill of sale requirements
Deeds and lease agreements
Birth and death announcements

Shredded highly classified Top Secret
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
internal memo circulars
circus posters

Poetry books among books
spilling their lives
dangerous words
orchestra sheet music
directing a playwright’s
dialogue
character driven conflict

Plato
entertains grotto ghetto children
whispering laughing dancing in parchment leaves

eating the shadow of their dreams