Seraphim

peel back the darkness and you will find skin
peel back the skin and you will find bone
peel back the bones and you will find the emptiness
that is the center of me
so banged full of stars and swirling galaxies

you can't make everything all right in one night
my quiver is not done
and my aim is all too true
skin of my skin dream my blood tonight
and settle by my side

single kiss to my shoulder
I shudder straight through blush
and sigh to the pillow's soft mountians
I cling to what your fingers say
dancing to the edge of seraphic denseness

my darkness all upon your fingertips
the taste metallic and crimson
as you lick each dripping drop
you dive in face first to those soft folds of fur
and come up not for air

lap at the milk of sweetest whitened flesh
mounds swaying before your face
lip to tongue to teeth
all a shivering mass at your touch
blood of my blood dream my skin tonight

and each gentle dying ember
sings a song upon rivulets of sweat
little streams of forgettfulness
each dying ghost
slipping out the door

skin of my skin
blood of my blood
dream of my dreams
let the darkness swallow
the world whole
and in starlight
bend to the bone of shallow angelic will

Poems Aren't Worth a Goddamn Thing

broken cracker
water straight from the tap
two day old bread
and salty soup

they come 'round here
offering
we have something for you
quick before it's all gone

you know there are more hungry than you
look at all these books
piled to the ceiling
sell them all and buy yourself some shoes

I'd rather wander barefoot in the rain
than give up a single word
each letter has more worth
than a heap of right opinions

each author a better friend
than a wringing religious hand
held out if you only believe
what we believe

I eat stale biscuits
the milk long gone
but still I am not alone
each word, each syllable
a stronger gateway to heaven
than any clammy outstretched appendage
crossing itself
with a backhanded weak smile
it's purveyor

Fire on the Mount

and the preachers preached

'the world;
she is ending.
See there,
fire in the trees, in the trees;
Fire.
Revelation.
God.
God's tongue.
Christ off the cross and looking to hammer some nails.'

bright orange flames licked the sky
off bough and branch
black smoke choked and chimed
and whirled into the horizon
like fingers reaching for the blotted out sun.
Son of God.
God's fingers.
Son of God, hair all fire.
A crown of burning thorns.

and the preachers sang

father are they coming for us?
do I hear angel's horns
or the sirens of ancient fire trucks?
Maybe salvation in the water
drowning in the river,
Baptize me in the name of nails,
Fire jump!
Fire jump the fire break,
Drop your gear and run, boy
drop your gear and run.

and the preachers cringe

they are burning knaves on the wooded edge
they are burning
and we are running
out running ash
falling from grace
falling from the fence line
and grace called our name
screamed
Fire!
Fire!
Look now,
Fire in my hands
in my eyes
all fire
Christ, but did it sting
tears streaming down my face
evaporating in the heated air
sand to glass and my feet bled
howling behind me
all flame with my name on its lips
Fiery lips with my name
my name
Firestorm
my name

standing in the pond
I saw them running
Preachers
hair on fire
God's wrath tasting their backs
nail in my hands
nails in my palms
soot painted on my eyelids

and the flames said
'I am Fire
and you are Wood.
I am the tongue of God.'

the sound deafened and flew over us
the world now orange
licking
underwater I saw it all
and know the name
inscribed on the sky
until the end of days
the black tracts of land
my home
my home now
in
Fire.

Christ,
just
say my name
and burn.