(August 1st 2006)
1. HERMIT KINGDON
two bags to my name
a twitchy eye
and sour stomach
narrowing down
my life
getting
the skinny
no room
for the gaunt
and unladen
and extremely
sick
fog rolling
over stanzas
and false cities
leaving behind Korea for Poland
for no earthly reason
not dispossessed
of judgement
but starting out
for another kingdom
2. HOPE
here on this earth
with a bucket under
my arm by the wobly splendor
of some distant sea
I count the opposites
of “is” and “was”
and come out astonished
between the element
of flesh
and the element
of hope
moving out of
moving out of help
ironing out my irony
draw close and close
the curtains
and knuckle down
here inside this other
monstrance
torments of robes and sculptured rays
useless to the busy hands of the living
high bridge of la dolce vita
and the shadow planets
of Rahu and Ketu
tug at my heels
metamorphosis is the heart
of my life and freedom
is a war without a victory
hope is the thorny tale
of the dragon
3. HERMIT KINGDOM
my name
on two bags
my name on
the apples
at the close of day
when straigtening up
and girlded with
lightening
in the book of diminishing
my existence was not
exasperated
by such a sudden clash
of foreign tongues
nor was the forbidden
shortened or shot-through
in the dimunitive or sensitive
language of the Post-Romantic
chased from the temple
of the Avant-Garde
traveling hermit
seeks refuge
in the Post-Modern
world and finds
a heart in magic cellulite
4. SCRAPS
pieces
here and there
forked
out on the road
behind me and I
kept my nose to
the ridiculous
in the low husky
voice of the morning
the shadow planets
PULL
&
it is not enough
to keep watch
Southern Utah
fire breathing
camels lost
among the sanddunes
of Zion
lift up the receiver to
the rasp
to the youth camps
to the Mormon temples
full of greed &
light
Portadown
stumbling home hysterical
with half bottles of Buckfast
elaborate murals grace
the divided walls
Belfast
At the church
across
from The Coach
kind women
hand out
kit-kats &
coffee
Circus Circus
acrobats over the heads
of old women fiddling
with coins in their bucket
glitch &
glamour
red carpet &
stale smoke
Rancho High School:
cross-country
practice
trans-
figuration of water
into salt
stiff erect
nipples in
a yellow
tank
top
&
a rock
in my cheek
to keep
the thirst
at bay
5. HERMIT KINGDOM
At the airport my two
bags were over-weight
and I stumbled around
trying to unload
the hardcover books
the anthologies and
what couldn’t fit
in my backpack
stayed at the airport
stuck again
&
leaving, &
lost, & always
too heavy for this tumbling
world
liberation from gravity occurs
at the odd interval
between waking
and sleeping
shed light &
shed the balmy
re-
sidue of
in-
security
entering, again, the resurrection, so durable
in its worn edges and stiff realities
weight weight
don’t tell me
about the warmth of memory
lost tongues retrace
themselves on necks
and lips and so little
faithful except
the mush of liberation
wonder wonder
wheresomehowever
shall I wander
crowds and crowds
of businessmen walk
the streets of Gangnam
mumbling the language
of drowning
gravel roads
forever winding
out behind me
and before me
nightstalls and sticky
hands in the nightheat
kimchee
burning
my temples
All-U-Can-Eat Sushi
little boats circled
and circled above
me at the all-u-can-eat
sushi and wanderlust
bit my lip and again, it
was time, it is always time,
to begin again.
6. DANCING ON EGGSHELLS
Suit of iron and strong salute
for the Jr. ROTC &
a life above
the clouds, spiked hair
and slick sunglasses
etc. and so on
spasms spasms &
design
mantras scribbed
on walls
future text by in-
direct
design
climb inside
with monkey apathy
and look for the moon key
small fists beat
out a rhythm
on the glass table
diaphanous memories
monstrous memories
first kiss and the brush
of skin in Hurricane,
Utah, mother rocking
against the bed
and popping
out
another child
father crawling
around in hot attics
repeat
1,2,3,4
left
right
pre-
sumptious
desires
of the future
the pattern has not yet emerged
in a key repetition of phases
7. HERMIT KINGDOM
Two names on a bag and the weight
was too great, and, unloading
was needed to fly
leaving out
& leaving
in
&
living out of two bags
motion
sickness
gripped
me
but punishment
became a bridge
& wanderlust reached
out for me with the promise
of a lidless
life