heaven is art and hell the artist. regret matters only to the creator of regret. brother hops around like a drugged rabbit. headcount is the nickname given by sisters to the outhouse built on a sandbox. an ambulance from dogcatcher’s dream puts the hurt on a flickering cornfield. our cellar is a mirror where thunder goes deaf.
eat loudly, mouse, for still I have my baby blood. loudly else you become a fish. else I jaw ear
from the character actor’s god.
I’ve held dogs as they die. vet’s office, 1993. a bad dream is a nightmare and a good dream is nothing. is a dog’s rib. I get an idea, here and there. design the same bathtub.
I catch them
these pairs
of common
beasts
that I might
separate them
one in the house
one free
and I live
outside
with my brother
and the nothing
between us
my hate
of all things
ocean
his love
for god
in a wordless dream I’m nowhere near anyone I can’t be. my dad’s mirror passes out.
snake
is the best thing
for snake.
I know you’re sad.
like a yard, a vandal, a roof.
seeing the future
takes time.
the unmarried wind will comb its hair in heaven
but for now
in the Ohio
of the weightlifter, that odd
follower
of stillness
who built
on roadkill
tornado’s
church
-its mother has less than nine months to identify the wrong body and that with me will be the weigher of vanished cargo
this is timebomb
the dog
that lived
forever
and this
on the good side
of most
parrots
is my food-shy
son
and
over there
is what’s left
of his mother
who is on
her second
or third
ghost
with hair
kingsoftrain 