Rover

the dust on your boots-- pennsylvania loam and cement powder from new york, jersey sand and

granite pebbles from walking on the face of old man appalachia, the oil black earth of bayou country

my daddy was a rambler, made me and my brother and rambled on

Laser

light measured, cut, and spun like fibers into a ruby line--fine and taut enough to slice through tissue,

blood, and bone

radiant nimbus of unstained hippocrates, garnet glowing fingers of chiron, light-forged blade of saint luke,

take this bitter cup, bloated cancer, this poisoned well that we must drink from, dance us away from

the shears of atropos, to kiss the rosy fingers of a new dawn

Jolly

-- roger --

bone face over femurs crossed, white death on a field of soot

-- jack --

chimneys belching black over brick and cobbles, a trail of carbine, razor flash

-- st nick --

snow falls silent, a blanket on rooftop sleigh bells jingle, fat man chuckles

Lucid

deep dive into the liquid black of swollen pupil

swim up to dew-kissed emerald green, bursting fire and gold lilies, spotted and purring like leopards

shadowy mint fronds, home of mechanical cockroaches, cleaning brass antennae and stretching glass wings in the

moist, velvet air of dream, feet find cobblestone street, weak sun shining through morning mist, newspaper

crier shouting as a horse wickers, matches for sale, roses -- pink as baby fists -- in a basket over a pale arm

thumb over pocket watch, clicks like the jungle insects, spray of pale mint frond in a brass pot beside the shop

door, bell rings welcome, welcome, wake up, wake up

Raise

antes, curtains, chickens and children

funds, flags, puppies and pumpkins

houses, hands, heads and hearts

salaries, hems, blood and pressure

questions, barns, spirits and the dead

Facet

light locked away in the cut of a stone, sharp enough to split shine, to shatter

rainbows, to fracture shimmer and hoard the pieces, star glow coloring your finger

Shank

split of skin, muscles parted and torn, gush of blood, spilling red more precious than

garnets and rubies

over sharpened plastic, former toothbrush -- guardian of facebone health now turned against

the leg, femur notched by the point driven home, rage-filled fists now coated in false-dawn glory, streaking

down arm, red and white as a barber pole, roses on snow, blood staining the white apron of a butcher

Blimp

floating silent as the moon, silvery in the morning light of my elementary

years, passing like a cloud over cane fields and schoolyard, smiling down, sweet

promise of a very good year

Steel

greenman, gentle hands on plants, on trees, leaning on your rake, inhaling the chlorophyll

in the middle of this grey city, you made yourself steel, a hammer through speakers, basso voice

-- a gift from dark gods --

ringing like deep bowled churchbell, steel in every note, in every breath, throbbing in your pulse

but steel buckles and breaks, titans fall in pieces, death stills metal hearts, while greenman still lives

laughing in the leaves of his trees

Whiny

slice through soft silence, a blade made of cut glass membrane, shriek

buzzing sharp

through a tin whistle, constant complaint echoing through your empty belly

handslap, bloodsplat

murder smear on my shoulder -- your only marker, end of your whinge, your hunger,

your death, unmourned

Louse

soft bite, unfelt and the draw of lifeblood into bottomless

hunger,

an abyss of a belly, the insect gone before the itch, before the

loss

is felt -- some walk on two legs, and they'll do you just the

same

Broth

(grandmother's best)

butter melting, sizzling gold and then chestnut brown, add

diced onions, minced garlic, salt it and crack pepper, simmer

add water when the onions look like the wings of dragonflies

veined and translucent

float two bay leaves on top, swirling in the stovetop currents

boil a chicken cage or an old beef bone, if you have it -- carrot peels and

the leaves from yesterday's celery, onion scraps and more garlic

(always more garlic)

simmer for two soap operas -- cool, strain, and set aside for soup, gravy, and stomach-sick grandchild

Merge

cars line up like teeth -- not zipper,

but molars grinding road grit

gridlock clenches like the jaws

or fists of toddlers -- never taught

how to take turns

Breed

what breeds are the cats? why, he's a black slinky, made of equal parts onyx midnight and domestic

doofus -- his friend is a purebred orange himbo, and this one is mostly stripey flop,

but he's about a quarter kitchen lumpcat, you can tell by his fondness for linoleum and cheese

this girl's a designer breed -- half louisiana loptail, and half nightscream barn cat, her brother outed with more

chonkus -- cats are unpredictable like that -- the orange girl is a creamsicle crabapple, and the babies are mutts, no breed at all

but we love them just the same

Finch

flashing goldenrod flitting between emerald and cooler mint, feathers smooth, fluttering chirp

fly, little friend, catching air freely, so freely -- find forest and fronds to friend you, and never

look down

Wrist

nerves and blood vessels weaving through bone, skin thin over pulse point

tendons stretch, parallel lines rising like a bridge for fingers to trace over

-- for lips to brush --

sending heat lightning racing over flesh like water, cheeks pink

in the warm flash of sudden electricity

Climb

dropped steaming from mother, on speeding gurney not yet in the delivery room, wild ram of a boy, wailing

displeasure from first breath, seeking better climes, my rock sheep of a brother, curls of youth long shorn,

he bows his head away from the blazing aries sun of his birth, presses to the sheerest mountainside, and climbs