WHEN IN ROME

conceive the world 
reverted
to proverbial Flood

board an airplane
low on fuel
grow flippers and

a parachute
May I take your order?
stakes rise in proportion

to the few
challenging the beast
of original consciousness

woken to indestructible
parables of warfare.
solution simple as

one less corpse 
to feed
a Happy Meal.

rise in dread of steel walls
eye socket monocle
protein in a 
 
pinch.
boots struck on wet concrete
forcing bitter roots

to burrow deeper
Attention cavalry:
instructions include

how to hold the 
halter like an ice 
cream cone.




BARBIE DOLL ROBOT WORLD

youth spent supplicated on stone blue mattress

granny smith luncheon, bologna cheese

lone sun beyond fluorescent ceiling

to arrive at point A, proof of existence

knowing nothing left as well as in store

decaf coffee 
 
the short time defining our lot

to determine or undermine Potential 
 
set bonfire beneath heaven

screaming siren of discordant unrest

and heave ho, walk the plank

the moon, albino chalk of unfinished meteors

just try to grow food there

and rain is squeezed from rock




THE FALL

brain pan cracked, bacteria swarming, stakeout exultant, hunched behind
wheel of hulking Detroit behemoth, cigarette ash tipped Styrofoam, furtive sip,
lengthy drag, hooded unblinking mendicant eyes, acrid smirk of disdain no
remedy for

plenty of time to shape the world out of time, radio tuned low, unsettling news,
staging affiliate for fighter pilots, breast pocket of the President’s, well-planted
baggie of pure white shit

magazine chamber of urban assault, file cabinet at the porno shop, passport
embedded with bent microchip, turbine jet, hydroelectric pew, albumen of the
golden egg, cigar-box explosives, backyard tree house, satellite nanotech
minutiae of quarks

feasting on flesh of chosen and chaste, sentient receptacles bereft of alien
departure, charcoal remains, a being so scarce, as to defy inchoate predilection,
torture cell embalmed in cinder block, junkyard chaos of inner-city sprawl

emergency birth in confine of rickshaw, earthquake race riot restless armies
tsunami, ordering yet another round for the house, eyeing the door of the bar,
ill at ease, scorpion nestled toe of jump boot, nervous glance cast over stone
shoulder

tailed by assassins, the stalker reversed, coyote tooth prairie and torched barrio,
chaparral obscuring whispered blind spot, blurred communiqué, cobbled alleyway,
palms meet henna, glint of steel sparking, spilt entrails composed on raptor’s wing

stalking the almighty fell off a cloud, from the mouth of a cave we watched for
a sign, from mountain peak for some fine lightning, not unlike certain days of
paradise, rain hitting the roof like jazz





NEO-CLASSICAL

read a poem by a poet 
I once loved a poet
poem about sky and sun
woman hoisted upon thrones
testament to love the theme
a load of bawdy bliss before
cloud formulating overhead
threat to follow every move
daily duels of roses red
rather this dilapidated hotel
biding time this day-old
butter-pat cadged from bistro
hollow walls roach-scuttling
darkness harmonious surely in love
that time back when I my
self was a bug






IDIOT’S GUIDE TO SURREALISM  
 
Massacre in the library,
not a bone overdue for months

strange notions as to universally inclement weather
Atomic-powered nightmares need not apply

sleep in reverse of the time-clock,
stop-watch set on Impervious

Ravaged, she desists spooning curlicue
In repose from sculpting of sangfroid

Rex tyrannosaurus angles in, through
clouds of balloons towards Ferris wheel





EASTERLY

on the lookout for an angle,
a long con defying
dependency on the stem of the rose.

thorn puncture leaks essence,
yonder wind empties hull of existence,
knife-glints of surprise
while the spooked beast
hits the fence running.

geographically terminated, on the lam and 
bus ride reaching the end of the line.

sayonara capital.