Saint Maeve

Livingston Manor, NY (Summer 2021)

is a story
first about places
of worship and

winter’s
verbose
soul

like the cockatrice
coming home to
roost like a photograph

aspires to distill
feathers fiery i
want to say

i burned himself
at the stake

ruddy rectrices up
from drifting smoke
addled measurable jawn

miserable i’ve been
unable to live
under these conditions

of resounding success
of first impressions
proof of laziness

i burned himself
at the stake

no monumental ever
but one’s life
the after-father eternal

alabaster born in power
i wanted i
remember slower motives

drawn from records
of dawn discovery
momentary challenges form

i burned himself
at the stake

long forgotten architect
amidst the inferno
of genius vandalized

permanent civil war
naves columns vaults
facade transepts crossing

and apse plans
and photographs burnt
plaster models smashed

i burned himself
at the stake

snowy february morning
explicit appreciation homage
and circumstance of

life her personhood
list of words
and phrases eurub

i like ike
bob’s your uncle
gale poets exaggerate

i burned himself
at the stake

everything you need
to know paginated
drunk knocked off

course young poets
old whores lol
bolaños let loose

like balloons struck
from chest stunk
old sneakers times

are tough times
have always been
tough in time

i burned himself
at the stake

square pose bubba
gump shrimp selfie
stick sagrada familia

20g gunpowder 20g
ethiopia 20g bitter
20g still water

cooked uncomplicated surveillance
software in neon
syringe of hammers

o i burned
at the stake

hours without touching
another freeman’s tongue
welcome says amygdala

sorcerer’s teaspoon of
distraction of slight
of face of

wild fathers’ simile
like ruddy fears
exploitation so rips

i burned himself
at the stake

fulsome feathers from
his dictionary good
advice hard advice

advice deeply swallowed
in that suck
called breath brooklyn

rusty
premeditated
agent

i burned himself
at the stake

life’s a story
first about places
of worship and

the venous cockatrice
coming home to
roost among memories

of photographs over
blazing patterns a
genealogy in light

Artifacts of Reference, No. 67

Artifacts of Reference, No. 65

Artifacts of Reference, No. 61

New Mexico State Gem

What is your name? Never know. Hunched, picked off
a pair’a you—neither crow nor winch. A thing
god backlit in neon after blessing us with neon. And I
know what it means as a poet to carry this heavy basket—faint
mason, invisible stevedore, passage of time, neither good nor right.

I am fearful for firm and misunderstood things—
the spume, smiling inside the gargoyle, cultural forb—
they’re no different as carrion ghouls. Time
has done miserable things with light—he waves no
staff nor hauls no sack of turquoise shards. Quick!

He’s about to make a break for it. He’s about to windlass
Into the clouds, that one’s fancy. The crocodile climbs
many painted ladders. No weighted, pretty purple halos
ringing the eyes of these wordy wraiths—embrace
not knowing your name. I struggle to pull down the old crucifix.

Barbecue Vanitas

Wikipedia Poem, No. 854

incoldblood-crop4

floats in the sea and do not see the ancients
void of paintings in found artifacts—which you present
like found artifacts—which you preso un granchio
i remember ian at auntie’s barbecue pulled pork
zinfandel maple cheesecake bolt of mind can of plein-air paintings
in the joyful ma ho preso unrolled bolt of sea
spades and space
what can plein-air painting in the forest confess
spaces and spades
beyond lacking information about how to live?
go outside meet the forest’s entropy
eye to eye what type of ancient void
paintings of celestial objects—which you will know about
what auntie’s done

Mostly Anti-Capitalist Art (1996)

mostlyanticommunistart-jordan-sm

this father
in between this
father i am
here i am in between
my name is father
and you listen or do not

outside
cats &
animals you could
permits imagination
& cats
permit imagination

it is folly to connect
the landscape is my mouth
is the transience of the
mouth free of use? tense
with permanence of
transience of a single noun
paparazzo

circle
seek balance
abstraction of
upstairs monster
not abstraction of not
circle circle circle

scale of burning flesh
life take a step back
red rover
the volcano calls red rover over
roll over red rover roll over

Empedocles and Exaenetus (Wikipoem for My Father)

Wikipedia Poem, No. 824

PROVE2D

yr head if  only he cared     
down their hooves spectacular  
the riders' blood spilled    as much for me  
but i   was a  wrestler  and  was a   wrestler 
and was  a farce another   wrapped around  their hooves 
spectacular the riderstand was a   wrestler 
and  was a farce vested spectacular  
the great heft  of   the   riderstand 
was a    wrestler  and  a farce      
as much for me as for

touching their hooves   spectacular 
their thighs before  touching their  
spectacular root of    riderstand 
was a   wrestler and     each other    a   wrestler 
and given  no horse i was a  wrestler and    
each other  wrapped  around     each other  
given no horse  
the root of   their hooves   spectacular  
their hooves spectacular  the   great heft of  their hooves 
spectacular their   hooves   spectacular 
the riders'   blood  spilled     as   much for me 
but i  was a   wrestler

“Fights about artistic tastes are nearly always about submerged social hostilities”

Wikipedia Poem, No. 685

Processed with VSCO with f2 preset

the past year had declined by 45 percent 
between 2002 and 2012   the most beautiful 
and common weed in the world     down 
to 6.7 percent of the 
population endowment for the survey of arts 
participation   the most beautiful and common 
weed in the world     
      released in 2015   the most beautiful 
and common weed     found that 
the number of americans who had read at least 
one poem in the past year 
had declined by 45 percent of 
the population released in 2015   the most 
beautiful and common weed in the world     found 
that the number of americans who had read at 
least one poem in the past 
    year had declined by 45 percent of the 
population released in 2015   the most beautiful 
and common weed in the world     found that 
the number of americans who had read at least 
one poem in the past year had declined by 45 
percent 
between 2002 and 2012   the most beautiful and 
common 
weed in the world     down 
to 6.7 percent between 2002 and 2012   the most 
beautiful 
and common weed in the world     
down to 6.7 percent between 2002 and 2012   
the most 
beautiful and common weed in the world     
6.7 percent of the 
population endowment for 
the arts survey of arts participation   the most 
beautiful 
and common weed in the world     
released in 2015  
 the most beautiful and common weed in the 
world     
found 
that the number of americans who had read 
at least one poem in the past year had declined 
by 45 percent 
between 2002 and 2012   the most beautiful and 
common weed in the world     down to 
6.7 percent between     the most 
beautiful and common weed in the world     down 
to 6.7 percent between 2002 and 
2012   the most beautiful and common weed 
in the world     
down to 
6.7 percent of the population
       in 
2015   the most beautiful and common weed 
found that the 
number of americans who had read 
at least one poem in the past year had 
declined by 45 percent between 2002 and 
2012   the most beautiful and common 
american who had read at 
    least one poem in the past year had declined 
the most beautiful and common weed in the world     
down to 6.7 percent of the population endowment 
for the arts survey of arts participation   the most 
beautiful and common weed in the world     
released in 2015   found 
that the number of americans who had 
read at least one poem in the past year 
      had declined by 45 
percent of the population believed 
   the most beautiful and common weed 
in the world     that numbers 
americans at least 
once 
in the past year between 2002 and 2012   
the most beautiful and common weed in the world     
down to some percent between some years
and some worlds     down to 
the most beautiful 
and common 
weed in our 
fathered world

spacer1

Source: Wilson, Carl. “Why Rupi Kaur and Her Peers Are the Most Popular Poets in the World.” The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 15 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/books/review/rupi-kaur-instapoets.html.

Abraham Lincoln, in 1824, Tries on Women’s Clothing and No One Bats a Lash

Wikipedia Poem, No. 616

w616

“If all this be not rebellion, I know not what to call it. I certainly regard it as sufficient legal cause for suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.” William W. Morris

gray to wear lipstick his mouth
he ate breakfast before lincoln wanted
to like to wear lipstick his mother wore
lincoln wanted to wish away war lincoln
wanted to like his mother school her
wear her caring peach lincoln wanted his mouth
to mother his mouth he watched her
thin serious mouth he wondered what
i could do for him and why she did
most mornings air on most mornings while
budget-bonded why she did it efficient
elegant wary to wear lipstick that
i could why all night she wears lipstick
his mouth he wondered while tightening the draw
strings of his small leather sack why
she did it freshly applied
she did it as commentary