NOT ONE THING

The heart, first to depart,

is soon followed

by the other parts,

falling, as will being,

through the many

fractured distractions.

The stone mouth idles.

The pining lover,

whose longing was misplaced,

was angry

even as a child.

Of what could he repent?

The different days are all

a trial of moods.

Embers will be sifted

behind the eyes,

winds kindled in the ribs.

Please, may this be so.

May we not break

at the sharp point

or impede

the wheeled vehicle

our sleep has balanced.

Through inevitable

refinement of love,

may we frame fragments

in the generous

number of the house.

DARKNESS HARBORED A FUGITIVE VOICE

Every event has a cause

but the sequence of events is random

and nothing happens for a reason

or by necessity

You might have argued differently

had you trusted logic

for the absence of character

that belied your achievements

Company had eased delirium

Unfamiliar caregivers brought blankets

and pieces of meat to the vigil

they sat as you strengthened

You belonged, after all, elsewhere

It was time to leave your personal space

where the hoot owl called 

as sadness tumbled the river within

The shit you had smeared across your face

could have been streaks of painted color

and you wanted to prove fearless

even with your fallen understanding

DEATH IS AN ANIMAL

There is a word

that has authority

and a person

who lost his sense
hearing the word

You have seen yourself act

    like an animal

and would again, if you could,

    with human footing

You are apart from nothing

The parts make sounds

holding their unity

at a distance