Upstairs Chamber Night 

“Rose up and smote 
The knotted heart” --- 
Love’s pen wrote 
In the cold dark 
Cove of sleep. 

Birdsong entangle morning light 
And like smooth stones boast of hard 
Times in the soft pale light, 
Estranged the lyrical glare of stark 
Mysteries wrought from the jarfly’s heart. 

The lop-eared sunbright banter gleams 
In the slogged old frog’s snit! 
Who like a prophet rests in the seams 
Of the day, snail’s pen full of sanskrit. 

The greatening of things small 
And diminishment of what was grand, 
When testimony of dark comes to fall, 
Starlight takes the stand. 

(originally appeared in Sparks)

 
Modern Poetry 

 when language 
 well-spoken 
 at its station in high society, 
 wearing its formal dress, 
 disobeys the laws of exposition, 
 Love may creep 
 like a fiend 
 into the camphor-scented rooms 
 of finely-crafted sentences, 
 strangle the sleeping baby 
 and fill its bag 
 with moon and stars. 

(originally appeared in Swallow)