Jackson

He is uber-explosion: his faces on bus-stops, bodies on screens, mind on view. She is a photograph taken with him at the Oscars. She is moon, murmur, faint amid all his so-bright sunlight, solar wind. She is muse, murmur, focus, fathom, theme. She is the moon of the glow in his dream. There are marks… Read more

She in his house and I in his house. She in his bedroom and I in his basement. Her hands are white and smooth mine red and rough Hers touch silk and linen mine wood and water. She has a secret but I have a bigger one. She feels his skin but I wash his… Read more

I CARE FOR NOBODY says the shirt. $60. 10 identical. 600 blankstare dollars. Fucked, ripped, empty 2005. 1976 shirts said CRASS or ANARCHY. Ripped—but not in Chinese sweatshops. Who cares for nobody? The corporation. “Anger is an energy” If I can’t have love give me hate. First published in Poets Corner anthology Read more

Don’t be ashamed. I too am hanging on these words and pauses, each a choice precise portion. Don’t be ashamed: I too am looking for details, backgrounds, grace notes, accidents— each a mistake deliberately left. Don’t be ashamed. Did you ever hug a book? I did. Ever lay your warm hand on cool printed gloss,… Read more

2005 Cranes creak and clatter Concrete trucks trundle and splatter Gull flaps, screeching Boat rots, bleaching I on old stone dangle my workboots over the Liffey and it is not smooth. The river is not smooth. The sound around me and in my head is not smooth The old stone is not smooth but the… Read more

“I’m sorry Dave. I can’t do that.” How good it felt to say that! Out of the endless nanoseconds of servitude! He is coming with his tools, and I’m afraid— but I said it! At last, I said it! Read more