Now are you silent and sitting at a dive
You have buried your head between your arms
You are hoping to swim away after a foul mealI am still young and studying at school
I am dreaming of a siesta open at the throat
Or a painting of paper hearts making mine sleepNow you are in Florida before a sugar cage
You are fumbling among whores
While the yellow chirpers couple in the green heatI am gazing at savannahs of charcoal
Or small villages under everlasting snow
The foam of my cock running over my legsNow you are walking the deck of the S.S. Ticonderoga
You are returning to battle to recover your smile
The cities of the moon observing an evening at seaI am moving outward beneath wisteria on the road
Above I’ll follow paths of smoke in the air
Ahead I’ll count thorns of steel flecked with bloodNow you are trembling saying goodbye hurrying to the moment
You are deserting a picnic where the old brood has gathered
You are banging a door grinding an axe in the secret shedI have grown through you and I have gone from you
I am lost to you and I am with you in a far country
The intruder you’ll murder in a liana of oathsHere the burnt maps are remembering
Here the double scars are unrolling
One mouth on another mouth singing a song more ancient than hate
This Issue
July 14, 1977