Rape
You can't do that I said
He slammed my friend against her chair
Yes I can--spit flies--her head falls back
White hair so old but he grabs my arm so hard
All the while I am
Struggling to get my eyes open
He looks like someone I know
He's like that actor, that's who it is
His name is on the tip of my tongue
I don't know if we'll get away from him
But I know I know him
In A Bavarian Cemetery
We huddle around the grave
Flowers, flowers,
The red candles poke through the earth
My husband is praying
But the ghosts are speaking to me
“Yes, yes, yes!” they say, and they
Raise their steins, they are sitting around a table,
Almost before I get out the question,
“Do you approve?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” They schunkel, they sing.
Beer flows in the land of the dead.
“Are you sure? I’m not---
“Yes, yes, yes,”
They’re dancing and
I ask,
“Is yes the only answer you ever give?”
“No, no, no!” They’re still singing
Still swaying still waving their beer.
“So no choice is wrong?”
They slap their thighs and heels.
They laugh so hard they can’t talk
My husband is waiting
But they’re looking at me.
The red flower blooms
The candles flare bright
And now the dead fall silent
Leaving me in the echoes of their laughter.
A Christmas Visit
A small kitchen a large face
Words wild as the white hair
Reaching for the ceiling
Every strand fights with its brother
A light shines in his eyes
We place the cookie tin on the table
We have to stay long enough to drink a beer
If he talks long enough he will exist
If he talks long enough he will not disappear
If he talks long enough the brown walls of the kitchen
The reek of the cows
Vanish
He is Hercules
He is Zeus throwing bolts
My daughter pulls my hand to her nose, sniffs the soap on my hand
Pushes her face into my sweater
White hair reaches for the ceiling
Every strand fighting with the other
Every muscle
Every finger
The wife leaning back, sad and kind
Her face was made to disappear
Or take refuge in
She is lonelier
But stronger
Cut the Blue
I lean out as far as I can
My heels lift and one push
Would do it if I could just
Cut the blue of the sky
It wraps itself around me like
Some unwanted safety net it
Tells me to desire what I no
Longer want and when I try to
Give that one extra little spring
And free fall out the wide open
Window with the breeze blowing in
I see a woman on the street and
She waves to me
I stand and shut the window tight
In the Garden of Love and Terror
One foot hits ground but it will leave no print
The grass springs up, unfolds and in an hour
Daylight will dry the stems and leave no hint
Fast as you flee in daylight’s liquid tint
Quickly you run while drinking in the power
As one foot hits the ground and leaves no print
Pump hands as feet flee silent in the glint
While sunlight all protective dark devours
Still, daylight dries the stems and leaves no hint
Between the rocks a stone, a sharp, hard flint
A silent thirst springs up in every bower
One foot hits ground, runs from the prince
No one will track you there because by dint
Of effort your escape succeeds but cower
To know that running cannot ever stint
The heartbeat chiming with the master’s ardor
Howl, rant, it matters not, all longing towers
One foot hits ground but it will leave no print
The grass springs up, unfolds, all in an hour.
Demon Lover
Slammed shut stayed shut for three unbending days
The shadow underneath it is his feet
At night I heard them shuffle, never raise
I knocked, I said, “Hi, Dad,” I thought of ways
To lure him out, I drew and cut out sweet
Big hearts, all crayoned red, they didn’t faze
Him, not one bit. I thought then that my gaze
Would draw him out, If only I could meet
His eyes with mine and offer him my praise
No word, the only sound his shuffling feet
The red, red hearts lay flat beneath the door
You can't do that I said
He slammed my friend against her chair
Yes I can--spit flies--her head falls back
White hair so old but he grabs my arm so hard
All the while I am
Struggling to get my eyes open
He looks like someone I know
He's like that actor, that's who it is
His name is on the tip of my tongue
I don't know if we'll get away from him
But I know I know him
In A Bavarian Cemetery
We huddle around the grave
Flowers, flowers,
The red candles poke through the earth
My husband is praying
But the ghosts are speaking to me
“Yes, yes, yes!” they say, and they
Raise their steins, they are sitting around a table,
Almost before I get out the question,
“Do you approve?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” They schunkel, they sing.
Beer flows in the land of the dead.
“Are you sure? I’m not---
“Yes, yes, yes,”
They’re dancing and
I ask,
“Is yes the only answer you ever give?”
“No, no, no!” They’re still singing
Still swaying still waving their beer.
“So no choice is wrong?”
They slap their thighs and heels.
They laugh so hard they can’t talk
My husband is waiting
But they’re looking at me.
The red flower blooms
The candles flare bright
And now the dead fall silent
Leaving me in the echoes of their laughter.
A Christmas Visit
A small kitchen a large face
Words wild as the white hair
Reaching for the ceiling
Every strand fights with its brother
A light shines in his eyes
We place the cookie tin on the table
We have to stay long enough to drink a beer
If he talks long enough he will exist
If he talks long enough he will not disappear
If he talks long enough the brown walls of the kitchen
The reek of the cows
Vanish
He is Hercules
He is Zeus throwing bolts
My daughter pulls my hand to her nose, sniffs the soap on my hand
Pushes her face into my sweater
White hair reaches for the ceiling
Every strand fighting with the other
Every muscle
Every finger
The wife leaning back, sad and kind
Her face was made to disappear
Or take refuge in
She is lonelier
But stronger
Cut the Blue
I lean out as far as I can
My heels lift and one push
Would do it if I could just
Cut the blue of the sky
It wraps itself around me like
Some unwanted safety net it
Tells me to desire what I no
Longer want and when I try to
Give that one extra little spring
And free fall out the wide open
Window with the breeze blowing in
I see a woman on the street and
She waves to me
I stand and shut the window tight
In the Garden of Love and Terror
One foot hits ground but it will leave no print
The grass springs up, unfolds and in an hour
Daylight will dry the stems and leave no hint
Fast as you flee in daylight’s liquid tint
Quickly you run while drinking in the power
As one foot hits the ground and leaves no print
Pump hands as feet flee silent in the glint
While sunlight all protective dark devours
Still, daylight dries the stems and leaves no hint
Between the rocks a stone, a sharp, hard flint
A silent thirst springs up in every bower
One foot hits ground, runs from the prince
No one will track you there because by dint
Of effort your escape succeeds but cower
To know that running cannot ever stint
The heartbeat chiming with the master’s ardor
Howl, rant, it matters not, all longing towers
One foot hits ground but it will leave no print
The grass springs up, unfolds, all in an hour.
Demon Lover
Slammed shut stayed shut for three unbending days
The shadow underneath it is his feet
At night I heard them shuffle, never raise
I knocked, I said, “Hi, Dad,” I thought of ways
To lure him out, I drew and cut out sweet
Big hearts, all crayoned red, they didn’t faze
Him, not one bit. I thought then that my gaze
Would draw him out, If only I could meet
His eyes with mine and offer him my praise
No word, the only sound his shuffling feet
The red, red hearts lay flat beneath the door
