The most dangerous country in the world Has no clue that it gives people nightmares. It doesn’t know that its shadow is radioactive. It doesn’t know why it wakes in a cold sweat In a fetal position, gasping, With all the blankets lying on the floor. It cries out before it wakes up And shuffles …
What did the moth want?
Industrial sea Meets industrial river’s edge Things forever trapped in things Carbon footprint Industrial ice Time-trap-buzz Numbers in sequence Industrial spillway Bench with no view Land-full Wasted breath Industrial breath High up wind Forgotten codes Of industrial footprint Dawn breaks so what? Moon rises Industrial moon Waxing, waning Over posthistoric phrases On a brick wall …
Leaving Rome (written in Ireland)
Let every crack be a place for seeds to sprout, Let the forest return to this place! Let the rocks be done wearing our face, And may every fractured avenue lead out! Rome is crumbling. All of the magic That will save us is outside of Rome. Inside the empire Everything is falling. It’s a …
The tremendum
If you look out into the twilit landscape that you thought was so familiar This time prepare to see something tremendous that is rising to be seen. You won’t be able to deny that the landscape is much more than a landscape. It is more like the Aborigines say. It is something tremendous just beyond …
If I was god, on my day off
I’d build myself a city A big, quiet town, A city to call my own With an uptown and no down. Peopled by people Who don’t live in their heads, No one lives too high; All with homes and beds. It’ll be low tech, Nothing quite on time. Lots of coffee breaks No crime. Build …
Patriarchy — how it ends
The kings, They come in caravans to die And they bring with them their servants. And their jewels stay with them When they are buried One hundred years apart In the back yard. And their graves Fall down And are removed For paving stones And the road that the kings arrived on Is called Kings …
The Storyteller
Right before intermission, After a long story about a land Where people sold their dreams To a company that made movies Out of their dreams that the people Spent all their money to watch, He began to tell a scary story. We were all too scared to move. His words alarmed us. Our hair stood …
The mock interview
Now that you have found your way through the labyrinth What don’t you understand? You may ask anything you want. If it is in my program I will be happy to answer, Tilting my head slightly and smiling. But first: How much do you want this job on a scale of 1 to 100? On …
What you might do
Two ravens are eating corn In the snow, in the medicine circle. They are jet-black Against a field of pure white. Looking out over this cold landscape You would never know it is March. You might make some tea, Place another log on the fire. You might gradually return to your thoughts. You might be …
Quiet as a banana
Bananas are famously yellow but they are also very quiet. Sometimes they are so quiet that I forget they are there until they turn black. Equally quiet is a chair but a chair is more still than quiet when it isn’t being sat in, so still in its form you have to wonder if it …