In The Storm - Draft One

Jennifer, welcome to the storm.

Why did you think we were so rich
When I drove you to real mansions?
What was it like to be tied and beaten?
To be choked? To be proposed to.
To be loved. I feel your hand in mine.
Sit again on your stoop, with that cigarette
Glowing under the moon.

Melissa, hold the mainsail.

And make love with me under the stars
Out in California, and in that large bed
Inside plate glass, and why didn't I
Know that the one you will have
You will have, and the one you won't, you won't.
It was not the time, I beg your pardon
For that error.

Kim, steer this vessel.

Kim, in 100 motels, in sailboats.
All through the country. Kim
Mother of my children. Kim, savage and
Tender and light years from me
Kim whom I never knew, who made
Men groan when she entered a room.

Malia, swim in the frothing sea.

And look at us through a child's green eyes
Alongside my infinite ignorance lay some
Some sort of compassion, for the thrashing
Of a deafmute and his blind lover.
Animals tied to one another, we could
Not help but exchange cruelty, and
We regret it.

Paula, lie ill below decks.

You magician. To fuck you was to fuck
9 women at once, a coalition.
I still hear their voices - all of them.
You moved me in, you removed me.
Just as sometimes a man may glimpse
Through an unintentionally open
Door : a life destined for another.
But I still burn for you.

Elisabeth, keep watch.

On the prow, and see where We
Are going. Come stand beside me
Near my chair, when the evening falls.
Walk with me, by the shore.
Let's swing our legs under the dock, sitting
On old rough wood, and watch.
The sun setting. At night our bodies
Will sing together in the stars.
I'll see you over on the opposite shore.

Yes, friends, all friends.
Love for some is a harbor,
For some, an ocean
For some, a storm.

I wait for the one who will stand by me at the helm.
All the way through.

Children and Dreams

There are only two guides.

To the One residing in the central square,

Children speak from one side
Actually from inside
Their voices come from somewhere
Wildly sincere. Eyes
Are interested in seeing what We do
With what They request of us.

Dreams on the other hand
Are the premonitions of Unity
As that Thing which so long ago
Was shattered from Itself
Gropes uneven ground, sliding Pieces
of Itself against Itself. Until
Its hands glide across smoothness.

In Darkness

In a dark wood you come walking
Shadows all around

And the shadows are deepening
Across the land in evening time

You are not walking
In the darkness of grief

Not covered with ashes under a leaden sky

Nor are you walking
In the darkness of fear

Not constraining yourself in imagined prisons

You are not walking
In the darkness of evil

Turning your back on simple commands

And you do not walk
In the darkness of ignorance

Because this darkness goes beyond fact and fiction

What you are walking in
Is just darkness

And all you are able to do
Is feel your way through

A Bridge

I will go to sleep tonight
And fully anticipate dreaming
Perhaps standing in the middle
Of a slender bridge, spanning the stars

On the far bank, that shining one is disappearing
My left eye is tearing : jewels for her
On the near bank, her younger sister is beckoning
My right eye is tearing : gems for her

The present is a vice, is a rack, is a sweet vice
The present is a demon, an angel, is
My longing for You

Evening

He was busy
The entire day

He got things done
He did them well

But now
Evening is coming

And

It settles down
Tenderly, on their shoulders

They cannot fight
They are stopped in the

Fading sunlight
And they pause, taking in

The change in the light

Everyone pauses
And everything is forgiven

Before the darkness

Lies

She said to my friend that she really didn't want to date
Right? So was breaking off the engagement

But she had been seeing another man
Did she start before or after she left him?

Either way, she was lying

He said that he would respond to my email by X
And used the word promise
But he failed to honor his promise

He was lying

She said he was too old for her
That she was just climbing with him because he
Was a good climber

And I said to her - within two weeks you'll be fucking him
Who was correct? I was.

She was lying

She said the contra dances were a nice happy healthy place
To go dancing, to enjoy the community
I said they were a meat market, a sublimated sex club

And she ended up dating and fucking
My ex landlord, who goes to those dances all the time

That's terriffic

I wonder : why does he go
To those dances all the time?

Hey, you people, when you open your mouths
And say things
Remember that there is One who is listening
Who actually believes

Your words