
on auto pilot
I navigate.
steering ride
from back bucket
–I ‘m very critical
(in hind sight)
total horizon obscured

on auto pilot
I navigate.
steering ride
from back bucket
–I ‘m very critical
(in hind sight)
total horizon obscured

Instead of mopping
what lay beneath,
I painted underfoot
–no scrub, just brush—
–not nail, but soul—
detailing in
tended topography,
I rounded corners
my Technicolor toes
tipping
–traps unsprung–
when momentum seemed to fail
in lieu of dusting
grit, I kept it
distributing feathers
in
sweeping mimicry
–as light as hope and
–thrilling as wind and
–detached as the bird
from tale
we’re plucked
foregoing white
wash
I dyed
–you heard?
that wool that gathered
every day
camouflaging stain so
blinders complimented
perception and
vertigo impressions
labeled: upside down
and
I skipped packing
up
good
(s)
boxed instead the
(bad)
the
space surrounding
. . .things
–amassing containers
in public storage, I
(promptly lost the key too

I listen to your smile
–hear it Doppler in the void—
touching your pain
–almost ruefully
–almost tenderly
funny bone pulsing high Q
I see your teeth
(polished w grit)
yell: oW!
(and at length)
I smell your doubt,
too–
in swallow
after
swallow–
the scent of you
indiscernible
–in all these carved
pathways
–annihilating
my memory.

no one-armed banned it
I kept weapons…
why not, it’s my constitutional right
–and ya gotta look after your constitution
(with mandatory health care that suits better than fine)
trigger-pullers
that even with the safety on,
can
.point.
push
or
pray,
and when engaged
can bash in
hope chest
(like that swinger Tarzan)
crammed with whimsical and eclectic items
sum of witch
are quite perishable
(rotten waffles)
others
made out of paper mache boulders
(fragile strength and pseudo stone wall)
still others
just black
(surprisingly Goth for a beach blanket bimbo)
incomplete, incalculable equations
I labor over every day,
and these are breakfast choices, too,
–nothing says “good morning” quite like uncertainty, I never say–
and the surfeit spills
into breadbasket I
often use
as a heavy bag
givin’ it the old 1-2 but never 3 because why
do that to myself?
(see: a-4-mentioned less than 3 reference which X factor is greater )
Y?
near the
bottomless pit
that accommodates my
ground beaters
–uprights
compromised by
beggin’ bones
the
oh-so-tender future veal
I save for dogs that circle back.

I bought
the excuses
I gave
(in a rush)
for Christmas post
pone
meant so corny,
dontcha think?
(slow conclusion)
I rapped
them up
in flowery prose
(colored purple)
and
(watermarked)
paper
inked blue
–w so many strings
attached–
I recycled
surprisingly few
accents
hued
red
&
green
.

as days grow short
you have to wonder. . .
will it be sudden and unexpected?
long and lingering?
peaceful or terrifying?
–the only certainties—
you can’t love without losing
–you can’t live without dying.
there’s a me
I can’t see–
who’s
Wholly Spirit
♥
there’s the
I
around whom I orbit
(too much)
the Sun
♥
then there’s
myself
–who I hope you perceive
–and wish that I were
(yet already am)
an imagery complete
–God
♥