Four Poems

Pass on the Devil!

Pass on the Devil! Pass on the Devil!

Pass on the Devil for the contemplation of pain,

For pity’s sake and for your ignorance.

The wind pushing at the back,

Vines grappling on the rack,

Pass on the Devil! Pass on the Devil!

The hum becomes a buzz,

Giddiness becomes annoyed heaviness,

For pity’s sake and for your ignorance.

Eat the Devil, to fight him better!

Ask not the liar to find an answer!

Pass on the Devil! Pass on the Devil!

Lacking evidence from the ancestors,

In the unpopular mind’s eye -

For pity’s sake and for your ignorance.

Vitriolic yet unsupported are your critique,

Immune to the metaphysical state.

Pass on the Devil, Pass on the Devil –

For pity’s sake and for your ignorance.

I rinse myself

I rinse myself and I clean myself

And I cover myself with the dew and down of Sun.

I shave silken night and trace golden dawn

Drinking the breath of the twisting Sun.

I hum the wind and low the trees,

Before the golden warmth of Sun.

Our Parting

“Our parting was going to happen anyway,” she says.

I bristle, “Now is not the future.”

“Our parting is destined to happen,” she protests.

“I wish it could have been later.”

“Would there have been any difference?” she muses.

“No, but at least…”

“Would we have developed any further?” she demands.

“No, but at least…”

“Would we have done anything more?” she asks.

“Yes, lots lots more.”

“We could have –

Hung out together in the park

When the fields of grass were green.

We could have discussed more poetry

As if we were such experts.

And done lots more cheesy things.”

Something on my wrist

There is something on my wrist

That burns and tears at my capillaries.

It’s tan and brown; the inside black and sticky

And it holds to the small hairs on my wrist.

I feel it come undone for a second, the sleeve

Of my jacket brushed against its edges

It’s chafing against my wrist.

It takes the numbing ache in my bones away.

And I look at it again, put it to my ear -

Tick

Tock

Clack.