i see entire universes born

why not?

i see construction sites glowing with disco fires

why not?

i see my wife or maybe i see myself a husband

because

i was not married

not yet

anyway

just there

in the mashed potato salad marsh, or mush-mouthed

dog-eared days

gone by

your hands

they fold me into my time

so easy

i go without thinking into a single moment all born

now

so easy

i am here i can breathe heave faint last season’s haints

fuckem

why not?

i see this woman i love so easily standing there

saying my name

smiling

just there

can you see her?

can you see your lover?

just there?

why not?

Yes

Yes

believe me

how strong a desire is

yes

beaten wings go

in the sheetmounds

your lover does this also

even if

you do not have one

in the bookstore

you see her legs her mimicked words

putter

putter

pitterpatter like water on a dry sink

skinperfect

yes

get it all over yourself

believe me

how strong a will is

collapsed neon sign

burst in the heatswells

greenlight redlight

greenlights

going gone

you do not have time

to stop yourself

whisper

whisper

name exchange and willow branch breaks

all over

yes

Before That…

Before That…

“…before that

before any lit

bellsrung and

the room goes

shhhhhhhhhhh

i see

cottonsoft moments

replayed like time—

machines on projectors

and my heart goes cross

like something broken

from rain and rust

a bicycle reflector

or mirrored radioscope

deflector turned x vector

blasting whitesun midday

to catch gamma rays

of starlit wonders, like

well…

you

you…

in the longest best laugh ever

and the driving even starts to

go funny

…before that

i knew

how that might, just might, be the brightest thing i ever saw

in a smile with eyes

to match”

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

California Forever

California Forever

these fires within me are true

as her name is

seagulls spit fire over orange rind beach

again

ferry whalers tugboat oil tankers line up

like crooks

weekday simple light no forecast nothing

outside cool

winds blow soft like secrets zebra-striped

black-and-white

this is all inside me now in my heart as

i cross another ocean

it is summer here and it is also summer in

california forever

i am at the bottom of the world in terms of

how maps look

and future love binds me fast and quick to this

book of future spells

her name rings inside me like a cleaning cloth

over fogged glasses

that would be my insides answering up to the cook

deep at work

within me catching up on the nourishing and

these fires within me are true

as her name is

say it

over and over

this winter is binding itself to the rocks i cast my rod

out into the sea

this channel is stuck now

like for an eternity

on

california forever

whatever number that is

on a dial

as her name is

true