Weekends

Out for a walk, my welfare seems tilted.
I don’t like the new puppy or the women
in the racetrack bar.

Slugging melting evening traffic.
On foot I am winged against it,
waiting for the pinch of an angel.

Three smooth stones
carried on the water to me:
The ideal Saturday night.

The Lake

This summer I’m building a lake.
Waking I burn fat orange candles
to stubs and look over blueprints.

When I die, I plan to burn and scatter
from every shore. Burn and scatter.
Sailboats will float on me, and in winter

I will turn to ice. I may be up to 500
feet deep at some parts.
I think I will haunt my lake nicely.

Riddance

This town’s days became mud.
One week a voice spoke out wool phrases,
trudging in the watershed marshes.

They got lost against the bluffs
and spooled out into lesser secrets
by branches, squirrels, and tramps.

The days combed through us.
There was bathing and TV.
Now there is only goons.

Everything Will Be Fine

Listening to talk shows in my neighbor’s garage
one of us rises to crush a can as
light rolls under the door like dice and

Today all I have to do is un-slash my bike tires
and grease the chain, call Mom Re:
A note fastened to the mirror

How some muscled angels will
swoop down and lower me gently
onto the drainboard.

Night Noises

Weird, minnow sentences.
White bellied-promises capsizing
In the harbor. Beef dinner special,
Restaurant window. I look out
Over the bay and see your
Ship come in, towing six
Dead whales. I fold my heart
Up, neatly in my napkin.
The waitress is pretty but
She doesn’t understand: one wrong
Thread and goodbye sweater.
Sometimes, I don’t.

I could have been two stones
Shy of Nirvana. Instead I
Hooked back when I heard the gang,
The TV had fallen into
A panoramic stupor, and I could
Give you another chance like a
Coin.

There are few evils in sleep and
Shadows. Both end when you
Do, or wake up. Windows
Are different. What do they do
[That’s my friend Coughing.
Couhging is my friend.]
When we’re away?

A big wreath of stars,
Someone’s archery stuff.
In my heart there are no spoons.
That’s why I leapt into the
Train for you. Why I blubbered
Out Everyone Must Leave
At the snowy height of the
Birthday party. People get so
Puffed up they can’t take care
Of each other all at once. That’s
Why telephones came, to stretch out
Time and do acrobatics in
The weird miles between us.

It’s been a touchy span.
I’ve been thinking: To live my
Life in valleys of avoided
Eyesight. I went in the alley
And saw it happen. Because
The wicked puppy of the universe
Dragged it over to me. With the
Sound of bouncing dice. And
That’s all and the alley fits me
Like a peg.

I followed a gentleman on a
Surfboard. In the Academy
Of Rolling Dice, the hallways ring
With hymns of certainty.
Stairways rise and fall, to climb
Them is breathing. Here
I must appear quite the lackluster
Fellow. Because you get the
Targets you deserve but many
Times miss. Does this uniform
Make me look less of a boy,
Or lips swell? Like Nyquil does
For those allergic to sleep.

One too many voyages.
Now me so _____. Growing
Certain, growing certain. Learning
Furious hibernation, and not to
Look back when I sense
My name in the coils of your
Timbre. Three stones carried on
The water to me: The ideal
Saturday night.

The heart is a swinging thing.
You learn this by pulling, pulling
Until the propeller snaps off and
Skips away. Worried about making
Little cuts in your group of friends.
One day it becomes all too much
And bursts, your severed head falls
Through the bottom of a wet
Grocery sack. With a sound like
Bad kissers, reverse suction,
Bile floods the avenue. Land
Lady locked in the surf even
Agrees you should be burnt.
It’ll make the papers, and then
They’ll make a new one.
So they all can see what you
Really are: The dark tunnel
Surrounding a little, bright light.

The Killing

Tyson

Fragments of Da Joey Boi

1
Prayer of Da Joey Boi:
WHEN I WAKE AND WHEN
I SLEEP IS MY OWN BUSINESS
AND I DONT NEED NO ANGELS
HANGIN AROUND MY BED
WAITIN FOR ME GOT IT
AMEN

2
Q: Why is da Joey Boi stupid?
A: Drunk with
Eternal Hope Fueled By
The Last Episode Of Every Sitcom He’s
Ever Seen Joey Boi Has A Stupid Dream
And When He Wakes Up He Breaks His Jaw
Against His Jaw Biting Down On The Long
Sweet End

3
Joey Boi fancies himself
Trod-on, button-pressed,
The punch line:
Saturday Sky
Tight as
Snare drum skin
But soundless
When trounced

4
He does not know her name he knows
Her song with
Sackfuls of quarters he can play it
All night long
On the red-hot jukebox &
In its halo
He dwells
Joey Boi
You handsome guy you
She’ll tell him

5
Thus squawks the Joey Boi:
Regarding the birds streaming out
In a line he had a
Question no one knows if
They are for sure swans
Stupid Joey
Down his yawning throat
A floating feather from his
Feather coat

6
The accursed Joey Boi
Snips a hag’s bangs and gets
Himself Cursed.
Whatever Ye Lift
Ye Shall Not Put Down.
“Magic don’t agree
Wit Da Joey Boi…”
Uncloaks a fist,
Angels swoop
To delay the whooping

7
Thus mopes the Joey Boi:
To wear
The room like
A coat
To gather his pouts
Into sack
Like gold: As
The doe-eyed-corpse
Crawls between them leather
Bachelors

8
Oh Radiant Owie!
Broiling owtward w/
Molten ow vestments and
Halo ow burns Joey-shaped
Hole in futon ow ow “Poor
Joey!” Mourns the dove he says
“Ahhhhh SHOO if you can’t
Love me”


9
Da Joey Boi, his heart spanks.
Finds some memories
Hi-def & hypnotic, others strictly
Erotic. The audience is
Bored Live.
The Pain is ON AIR
Is Pain-o-Rama is
Pulpy is
This thing on

10
Joey Boi up to his ears in
No Good
Ascends the fence
The bleachers scrambles
And broadcast
Booth to roof
Plunges an icicle into
The Sun

With Brave Mark
They conducted the evening
’One beer each

11
He’s rubbing
Her shoulder
Off with his hand
Dissolves in toilet
Water how long has he
Been in there? How
Long’s Joey been in there
How much
Longer

12
Joey Boi is
Glass Bachelor, The
And never really did believe
Only entertained idea of
Angels because
Give him a break he is
Broken and
We are all
Entertained

13
Q: Where is da Joey Boi?
A: Between Da Cushions


14
Da Joey Boi dreams clouds
Like creamy midriffs and
Lets loose his pearls sigh
Into again blink-blink 3 AM
Perverted Wilderness.
“Nodda pup nodda hound just
A God-damned dawg.”
Good night, Joey Boi.

15
Joey Boi’s a hero
Here’s how:
For Keeping A Flame
(Ever-Fattening) From
For Clenching His Eyes
Master Of His Hot Temptation
For Smiling

16
Tha tricky Joey Boi
Pulls his own thumb off,
Forgets it someplace, your shorts
A teacup the
Bass drum the
Bait shack the
Forgetful Joey Boi!
But that’s the
Trick: Forgetting

17
Joey Boi is spiffed
& Unspurned
Will make a smooth exit
& white hot ascension
Will not mop Friday
From Saturday’s new
Deck (There’s no need)
Will not jangle
The galaxy’s key chain

18
Joey Boi kissed a hundred
Clammed-up Katies
Who claim
To not remember.
Now
A few go blush-blush,
Confess
We do recall
But we regret
Joey does some
Quick math:
His lips were chapped
About half
The times

19
Joey snapped his soul
Stretching.
At the Home Run
Derby, the Boi’s
A sigh unlikely.
No one clapped.
The pitch, like a kiss,
A hickey with stitches,
No one clapped,
He’s outta there

20
Joey wonders:
Has there ever been a parable
Such as dis? Waking making
Sleep unbearable?
Yes Joey. Then the
Brunette draws a dagger
Hung between her breasts
And chop-chop goes Da Joey Boi!
Thus is the flavor of Friendship.
Joey Boi, slashed, asks one last
Question: How
Does it end?

December

Joey Boi's Prayer

WHEN I WAKE AND WHEN
I SLEEP IS MY OWN BUSINESS
AND I DONT NEED NO ANGELS
TO BE HANGIN AROUND MY BED
WAITIN FOR ME GOT IT
AMEN

Fragment of Joey Boi #2

Tha tricky Joey Boi
Pulls his own thumb off,
Forgets it someplace, your shorts
A teacup the
Bass drum the
Bait shack the
Forgetful Joey Boi!
But that’s the
Trick: Forgetting

Fragment of Joey Boi

Q: Why is da Joey Boi stupid?
A: Drunk with
Eternal Hope Fueled By
The Last Episode Of Every Sitcom He’s
Ever Seen Joey Boi Has A Stupid Dream
And When He Wakes Up He Breaks His Jaw
Against His Jaw Biting Down On The Long
Sweet End

1/21/10

This morning occurred to me
then stood so still
like startled.
Before I
Go on, go back to sleep
my sudden big bed
rolls over a kitten foot
with wagon wheels.