just acting

Forgetting the beach
the uprooted tree
its side in the sand
worn smooth by the waves' restless tousling
softened and sogged
salted it lay
el arbol del mar
la reina muerta

I cursed my father
overturned his empty wooden bowl,
spilling crumbly remnants of dinner into his lap

in the split second it took to think
this act of violence
I am lost

it is rare that I find myself in pinches of rage
even rarer that I feel compelled to express myself in Spanish
both acts being less characteristic of me
than wandering the beach, worshiping tree carcasses

all being theatrical gestures of experience
the nobody playing the somebody

only one eye in happiness

keep eyes open
prospector keep searching
what would it be to see without looking?

Death will steal my hunger
give me back to vision
until the day i see with eyes open
for now fill up on compassion

Gratefully yours

hello in there with the animal eyes
how did you get your skin to fit so tight
look at you all taut and bright
you build a good wall for such little might



oh I have been so many things
in this life alone
born again too many times to tell
always chasing after
heavens' teasing
while fleeing from the kindness of hell

events unfolding, I claim and make mine
seek continuity in what pleases me
while avoiding the rind

governed by taste
to lumber around like a bumbling bear
slitting salmon in the river
gutting beehives in the pines

the difference between me and the monkey and bear---

human human your body is soft
but your will is strong
the only creature in the forest that can change its song

No need for fingers on the pulse
when you are the blood

I flip and flow
I course and spout

no need for a door
when I am the house

I would if I could
I would if I could

I can and I have

our sight's set on being seen
and everything holds meaning

this is a passing embrace
the blood in your mouth
a pleasantry of taste


what you and I see
the world as it looks like to humans like me
we are born and its brief
once i would have told you to gather your joy
and bury your grief
i can only tell one from the other
but not much else