Branding

Used to be what men did to animals.
What owners did to slaves.
Now embraced by the great society.
Our new ideal.
To be branded.

Back to Civilization

Back to Civilization

for Faith

Sweeping up butterflies

Checking out bloodied eyes

Cleaning the window panes

Kicking off shoes

Women and little boys

Stepping on cats and toys

Building a home again

Burning the blues

Blood

Blood

Let, spilled, spent,

gathered at the rim of the slick sheath,

dried, flaked, famed, unnamed,

resting on the nape of the embattled hill,

running before triumph,

trickling behind failure,

trapped in the cherry's violent red,

sword thirst, virgin squirm,

"Take ye and drink of this, all of you," He said.

Birds Drop

Birds Drop

Birds drop each through a thin space

where stringy clouds catch

and unravel in their beaks.

Sunshine is cut and cooled with blue

and their lace bones inspire.

On earth we slog through a clabbered mist

thick with clots of gnats and pollen,

and where your loosed breath

washes into my mouth.