Just About Dark

A Million Years Later

A Million Years Later

Before we go 

imagine your body 

is a withered tree

hollowed  trunk

shoulders broken branches 

tangled hairy leaves

cover the untended 

mind a smoldering nest

aglow with crimson sparks

blue ashes

grey thoughts

drift away

when the forest burns

do our shadows disappear?

The last time I saw Nick was Valentines Day

we sat on his mattress talking about love 

but when the vodka ran dry

he opened the door 

to let me go 

and said

when the holy spirit 

moves in you

you’ll recognize him 

by his lantern jaw

and the banners on his spears

beware the dark hoard following

faithful ravens and crows 

because when he 

finally finds you

you will be 

utterly alone

so remember

if 99 % of humanity 

is exterminated

there will still be 

over 65 million of us 

left alive

A friend under a desert bridge 

tried to console my grievous pain 

abscessed tooth blood smeared

across my beard

he patted my shuddering back 

and said

if you have to be poor

be outside 

not in prison

if you have to be crazy

be alone 

not locked up

if the world wants definitions

become fiction

and make friends

from the alphabet

I take my warnings and my friends 

as I find them 

his proved to be true

there have been many bridges since then

some for crossing

others were just shelter from the storm

  

One day in walmart

looking for cheap toiletries

Nick told me an old story about

the prettiest thing he ever saw 

a friendly texas brunette at sunset

spread out on a navajo rug

beneath golden oak leaves

a storm was coming in

uncovered hips adrift

green swell of spring cotton fields 

thrashing beneath gulf coast winds 

before the hurricane

scattered the flock

Magpies don’t know shit

about love because

escape artists never do

they rely only on their 

sexy fluttering perfume

and when they draw near

reflecting what is bright

when they look straight at you

and only you

all there is 

is light

Remembering men no one knew

I learned from them

if I have to die

I'd rather go from exposure

not boredom

let death catch me in full flight

I can't just hide

Yet for all their instruction

I remain uprooted

not dead

just older

patiently waiting 

for my peculiar confusion

to unfold into coherence

Iearning to survive 

without useless words 

lifting my feet

above the cacophony

of so many 

small bodies.