1.
Here is a rose
or something like one
2.
Here is a cathedral
and when she screams
it loosens the screws
in the next house
3.
Here is a note smooth as vowels
and when sung it makes out
like church bells
Proof of non-inhabitants
4.
Here is a crime inside a sentence
sentenced to death inside
a thought
5.
Here are hands made for hands
made of
• land
• of and for the sea
6.
Here is a mans world
a mans word with a feminine accent
7.
Here is a riot doubled-
over until thick as sperm
8.
Here is a she
when she licks it is
a radiator in a tundra
• a rose in a marsh
• voices on paper
• a ukulele in Guantanamo
9.
Here is pain
Squirm like wounded dogs
and people in love
and love like masses in deep space
10.
Here is a vulture
Teach the vulture
- to love another vulture
- to cherish the dead
in other ways (when not starving) - To mother like a human
11.
Here is a cadaver
Play the backbone like a cello
and then the skin
• like a musical saw
• like Pavarotti sung Ave Maria
• like
children in spring
in dirty cloths
how they love
the soft of bone
the simplicity of sequence
12.
Here is a suicide
How properly you lay
down on the vertical tanto
the way of the Bushido gentleman
turned ninety degrees toward the core
(another kind of romance)
Mirrors before a kiss
(another kind of romance)
13.
Here are bats
Bats always see right through each other
14.
Here are crows
Crows in twilight don’t always know
where they’re going
(another kind of romance)
2014, 2nd Place Poetry Winner
