"The Green Key"

pagodas of insomnia
forty hecatombs later
doublure
the King's Evil
noncompliant
the might of the Meerkins
robbers
an encyclopedia of Bloggs


    * * * *

white on black lettering
reflected in black rivers

knowing the refunds are here
police crack down on traffic violations

sky as in Zavijava
for a moment Tori Amos

on one side the shoulder falls away
and we keep swerving almost to the brink

color of deepest sleep, redolent of old
furniture & rooms a little dusty

what has happened to the struggle
of everyone? now everyone struggles

and though i should be heartened
i can't make the good news hopeful

i watch the foam rise almost to the brim
and think: we will have stars after this


    "Coöperate with Boötes"

1.
how little it takes
to enslave a man

a gun pointed
a command barked

a poet
to call it fate

2.
clubable

squalene
ferncool

tide
valor

thorn

3.
minstrel · wasabi
hologram cop cars

never quite sick
never quite well

where have i put them
once i was so certain of

4.
the ghostly incidence
alone reaping
from this ferment
of atomies

the white wages i sing
through springtime
and trees in flower

5.
During the whole of a dull
soccer sidecar
ruby flame a long ways off
rekindle
the thwarted apocalypse