For Voices 

And can't I say he crushed my bones
all the way through skin
                         elastic veins
forget the tendons, ligaments  Can't I speak
my heart split on lines
never divided left from right, ventricles from atria?
 
No you cannot  security risk
                             infectious risk
  hold your body & your blood
inside that splitting skin
                           through the scent of burning hair
               Keep vibrations in the air
held back by your broken teeth

                                 Is this the way to change the world?

This is how we save




Last Witness
 
Forget the war
Forget his force in you since
anyway your shock
                  stopped memory from sealing
                 the feeling but
                                 ground beneath
                                 Forget
                          the war
                  they say
for your own sake, forget
 
                          that gutters blushed
                          You did not think they blushed
when you smelled strange-familiar metal in the streets
                                         and the barren market
                                 Forget,
 
They say forget
the war if you want peace
                          forget
                                 brother's scream, crunch of sister's bone
                                  (are neighbors so important?)
                   Forget the war
 
for peace, Forget




Maidenhair Library Lane
 
                    every time you shift shade
            I change ways
                           left to gather
               more of you
                             at least in my eyes
when you turn yellow
                              how sun-moon gleams through
                  or even just lamps
                                     holding nose against
                               sour-seed  fallen-milk  scent
when you turn gold
                    give up enough
I want to take you in my hands
 
when you return
you're green
             and I'm just glad
            it's warm again  your skin
                hold no scars from this shift




To Fallen Leaves
 
     been sewing your teeth to my bones
My bones are seams that keep me warm
        but you fed me such short hairs
        (and all I saw was yours
 
seams now let the rain in me
                             under wind
          preparing to freeze
crystals against
                 whatever heat you've left