of the gap-toothed are
���walls
�������christening away, but paper, a
��root shelter,
������������our maple
��������for that�s left wrapped
����a stone smile passed along
��the worn,
the watered rocks of foundation, house aged all to whiskey
�����������never in a pine dress

~

the beavers plugged the culvert with their need
the barbed wire underwater now, a threat
to swimming dogs � bog dog, she pays no heed
and keep out warnings fail to scare the wet
set moving in with raucous honks. they supersede
old chanticleer, the squawk of clarinet,
a wheezing train � the sounds of life beyond �
but can�t drown the copter over my pond

~

maple and pine shelter
our roots, the gap-toothed smile
of a stone wall � foundation rocks are all that�s left
of the house, but for a christening dress aged
to watered whiskey, passed along, wrapped away
in paper and never worn

~

������whump
����������������whump
����whump

startled out of a nap
endless circles, pilot of the whirligig getting his fly time in
no doubt unless he�s spying on beavers

             I could show him mine

shake my head of sleep, where�s my mind?
world wars and gunpowder, a cry for kelp
I drive to Frosty's Donuts - find Jesus(!),
Persians & cinnamon sin

~

try to battle often and lovingly,
    to accommodate,
to dissolve solidly and with hope,

do not take from bullets

do not
  hide from
             captivations

~

my blue eyes stare out of small faces,
a tether to a hot air balloon that might otherwise
rise beyond the stratosphere
though hidden violets, azures leaching
into nothingness - I�d know I was there

when I could no longer see,
not a molecule left to scatter the blues

~

listen to my words:
try to deactivate,
 to collide extraordinarily and ordinarily,
 to drink,
     to declare,
to steal from
      small eccentricities

do not accept from proud casualties

          do not depart from pure baboons