Buy
the book Today! Snakeskin
jacket
Indian eyes
Brilliant hair
He moves
in disturbed
Nile Insect
Air
You parade
thru the soft summer
We watch your eager rifle decay
Your wilderness
Your teeming emptiness
Pale forests on verge of light
decline.
More of
your miracles
More of your magic arms
Bitter
grazing in sick pastures
Animal sadness & the daybed
Whipping.
Iron curtains pried open.
The elaborate sun implies
dust, knives, voices.
Call out
of the Wilderness
Call out of fever, receiving
the wet dreams of an Aztec King.
The banks
are high & overgrown
rich w/ warm green danger.
Unlock the canals.
Punish our sister's sweet playmate distress.
Do you want us that way w/ the rest?
Do you adore us?
When you return will you still want to play w/ us?
Fall down.
Strange gods arrive in fast enemy poses.
Their shirts are soft marrying cloth and hair together.
All along their arms ornaments conceal veins bluer that blood
pretending welcome.
Soft lizard eyes connect.
Their soft drained insect cries erect new fear, where fears
reign.
The rustling of sex against their skin.
The wind withdraws all sound.
Stamp your witness on the punished ground.
Wounds,
stags, & arrows
Hooded flashing legs plunge near the tranquil women.
Startling obedience from the pool people.
Astonishing caves to plunder.
Loose, nerveless ballets of looting.
Boys are running.
Girls are screaming, falling.
The air is thick w/ smoke.
Dead crackling wires dance pools of sea blood.
Lizard
woman
w/ your insect eyes
w/ your wild surprise.
Warm daughter of silence.
Venom.
Turn your back w/ a slither of moaning wisdom.
The unblinking blind eyes behind walls new histories rise
and wake growling & whining the weird dawn of dreams.
Dogs lie sleeping.
The wolf howls.
A creature lives out the war.
A forest.
A rustle of cut words, choking
river.
The snake,
the lizard, the insect eye
the huntsman's green obedience.
Quick, in raw time, serving stealth & slumber,
grinding warm forests into restless lumber.
Now for
the valley.
Now for the syrup hair.
Stabbing the eyes, widening skies
behind the skull bone.
Swift end of hunting.
Hug round the swollen torn breast & red-stained throat.
The hounds gloat.
Take her home.
Carry our sister's body, back
to the boat.
A pair of
Wings
Crash
High winds of Karma
Sirens
Laughter
& young voices
in the mts.
Saints
the Negro, Africa
Tattoo
eyes like time
Build
temporary habitations, games
& chambers, play there, hide.
First man
stood, shifting stance
while germs of sight
unfurl'd Flags in his skull
and
quickening, hair, nails, skin
turned slowly, whirl'd, in
the warm aquarium, warm
wheel turning.
Cave fish,
eels, & gray salamanders
turn in their night career of sleep.
The idea
of vision escapes
the animal worm whose earth
is an ocean, whose eyes is its body.
The theory
is that birth is prompted
by the child's desire to leave the womb.
But in the photograph an unborn horse's
neck strains inward w/ legs scooped out.
From this everything follows:
Swallow
milk at the breast
until there's no milk.
Squeeze
wealth at the rim
until tile pools claim it.
He
swallows seed, his pride
until w/ pale mouth legs
she sucks
the root, dreading
world to devour child.
Doesn't
the ground swallow me
when I die, or the sea
if I die at sea?
The City.
Hive, Web, or severed
insect mound. All citizens heirs
of the same royal parent.
The caged
beast, the holy center,
a garden in the midst of the city.
"See Naples & die."
Jump ship. Rats, sailors
& death.So many wild pigeons.
Animals ripe w/ new diseases.
"There is only one disease
and I am its catalyst,"
cried doomed pride of the carrier.Fighting, dancing, gambling,
bars, cinemas thrive
in the avid summer.
Savage destiny
Naked girl, seen from behind,
on a natural road
Friends
explore the labyrinth
- Movie
young woman left on the desert
A city gone mad w/ fever
Sister of
the unicorn, dance
Sisters & brothers of Pyramid
Dance
Mangled
hands
Tales of the Old Days
Discovery of the Sacred Pool
changes
Mute-handed stillness baby cry
The wild
dog
The sacred beast
Find her!
He goes to
see the girl
of the ghetto
Dark savage streets.
A hut, lighted by candle.
She is magician
Female prophet
Sorceress
Dressed in the past
All arrayed.
The stars
The moon
She reads the future
in your hand.
The walls
are garish red
The stairs
High discordant screaming
She has the tokens.
"You too"
"Don't go"
He flees.
Music renews.
The
mating-pit.
"Salvation"
Tempted to leap in circle.
Negroes riot.
Fear the
Lords who are secret among us.
The Lords are w/ in us.
Born of sloth & cowardice.
He spoke
to me. He frightened
me w/ laughter. He took
my hand, & led me past
silence into cool whispered
Bells.
A file of
young people
going thru a small woods
They are
filming something
in the street, in front of
our house.
Walking to
the riot
Spreads to the houses
the lawns
suddenly alive now
w/ people
running
I don't
dig what they did
to that girl
Mercy pack
Wild song they sing
As they chop her hands
Nailed to a ghost
Tree
I saw a
lynching
Met the strange men of the souther swamp
Cypress was their talk
Fish-call & bird-song
Roots & signs out of all knowing
They chanced to be there
Guides, to the white
gods.
An armed
camp.
Army army
burning itself in
feasts.
Jackal, we
sniff after the survivors of caravans.
We reap bloody crops on war fields.
No meat of any corpse deprives our lean bellies.
Hunger drives us on scented winds.
Stranger, traveler,
peer into our eyes & translate
the horrible barking of ancient dogs.
Camel
caravans bear
witness guns to Caesar.
Hordes crawl & seep inside
the walls. The streets
flow stone. Life goes
on absorbing war. Violence
kills the temple of no sex.
Terrible
shouts start
the journey
- If they had migrated sooner
- a high
wailing keening
piercing animal lament
from a woman
high atop a Mt. tower
- Thin
wire fence
in the mind
dividing the heart
Surreptitiously
They smile
Inviting - Smiling
Choktai
leave!
evil
leave!
No come here
Leave her!
A creature
is nursing
its child
soft arms around
the head & the neck
a mouth to connect
leave this child alone
This one is mine
I'm taking her home
Back to the rain
The
assassin's bullet
Marries the King
Dissembling miles of air
To kiss the crown.
The Prince rambles in blood.
Ode to the neck
That was groomed
For rape's gown.
Cancer
city
Urban fall
Summer sadness
The highways of the old town
Ghosts in cars
Electric shadows
Ensenada
the dead seal
the dog crucifix
ghosts of the dead car sun.
Stop the car.
Rain. Night.
Feel.
Sea-bird
sea-moan
Earthquake murmuring
Fast-burning incense
Clamoring surging
Serpentine road
To the Chinese caves
Home of the winds
The gods of mourning
The city
sleeps
& the unhappy children
roam w/ animal gangs.
They seem to speak
to their friends
the dogs
who teach them trails.
Who can catch them?
Who can make them come
inside?
The tent
girl
at midnight
stole to the well
& met her lover there
They talked a while
& laughed
& then he left
She put an orange pillow
on her breast
In the
morning
Chief w/drew his troops
& planned a map
The horsemen rose on up
the women fixed the ropes
on tight
The tents are folded now
We march toward the sea
Catalog of
Horrors
Descriptions of Natural disaster
Lists of miracles in the divine corridor
Catalog of fish in the divine canal
Catalog of objects in the room
List of things in the sacred river
The soft
parade has now begun
on Sunset.
Cars come thundering down
the canyon.
Now is the time & the place.
The cars come rumbling.
"You got a cool machine."
These engine beasts
muttering their soft
talk. A delight
at night
to hear their quiet voices
again
after 2 years.
Now the
soft parade
has soon begun.
Cool pools
from a tired land
sink now
in the peace of evening.
Clouds weaken
& die.
The sun, an orange skull,
whispers quietly, becomes an
island, & is gone.
There they
are
watching
us everything
will be dark.
The light changed.
We were aware
knee-deep in the fluttering air
as the ships move on
trains in their wake.
Trench mouth
again in the camps.
Gonorrhea
Tell the girl to go home
We need a witness
to the killing.
The
artists of Hell
set up easels in parks
the terrible landscape,
where citizens find anxious pleasure
preyed upon by savage bands of youths
I can't
believe this is happening
I can't believe all these people
are sniffing each other
& backing away
teeth grinning
hair raised, growling, here in
the slaughtered wind
I am ghost
killer.
witnessing to all
my blessed sanction
This is it
no more fun
the death of all joy
has come.
Do you
dare
deny my
potency
my kindness
or forgiveness?
Just try
you will fry
like the rest
in holiness
And not
for a
penny
will I spare
any time
for you
Ghost children
down there
in the frightening world
You are
alone
& have no need of other
you & the child mother
who bore you
who weaned you
who made you man
Photo-booth
killer
fragile bandit
straight from ambush
Kill me!
Kill the child who made
Thee.
Kill the thought-provoking
senator of lust
who brought you to this state.
Kill hate
disease
warfare
sadness
Kill
badness
Kill madness
Kill photo
mother murder tree
Kill me.
Kill yourself
Kill the little blind elf.
The
beautiful monster
vomits a stream of watches
clocks jewels knives silver
coins & copper blood
The well
of time & trouble
whiskey bottles perfume
razor blades beads
liquid insects hammers
& thin nails the feet of
birds eagle feathers & claws
machine parts chrome
teeth hair shards of
pottery & skulls the ruins
of our time the debris by
a lake the gleaming
beer cans & rust & sable
menstrual fur
Dance
naked on broken
bones feet bleed & stain
glass cuts cover your mind
& the dry end of vacuum
boat white the people
drop lines in still pools
& pull ancient trout
from the deep home. Scales
crusted & gleaming green
A knife was stolen. A
valuable hunting knife
By some strange boys
from the other camp across
the Lake
Are these
our friends
racing & shuddering
thru the calm vales of parliament
My son
will not die in the war
He will return
numbed peasant voice of Orient
fisherman
Last time
you said
this was the only way
voice of tender young girl
Running
& speaking
infected green
jungles
consult
the oracle
bitter creek
crawl
they exist on rainwater
monkey-love
mantra mate
maker of brandy
The poison
isles
The poison
Take this
thin granule
of evil snakeroot
from the southern
shore
way out
miracle
will find thee
The
chopper blazed over
inward click & sure
blasted matter, made
the time bombs free
of leprous lands
spotted w/ hunger
& clinging to law
Please
show us your ragged head
& silted smiling eyes
calm in fire
a silky flowered shirt
edging the eyes, alive
spidery, distant
dial lies
come, calm
one
into the life-try
already
wifelike
latent, leathery, loose
lawless, large & languid
She was a kingdom-cry
legion of lewd marching
mind-men
Where are
your manners
out there on the sunlit
desert
boundless galaxies of dust
cactus spines, beads
bleach stones, bottles
& rust cars, stored for shaping
The new
man, time-soldier
picked his way narrowly
thru the crowded ruins
of once grave city, gone
comic now w/ rats
& the insects of refuge
He lives
in cars
goes fruitless thru
the frozen schools
& finds no space
in shades of obedience
the
monitors are silenced
the great graveled guard-towers
sicken on the westward beach
so tired of watching
if only on
horse were left
to ride thru the waste
a dog at his side
to sniff meat-maids
chained on the public poles
there is
no more argument
in beds, at night
blackness is burned
Stare into the parlors of town
where a woman dances
in her European gown
to the great waltzes
this could be fun
to rule a wasteland
Cherry
palms
Terrible shores
& more
& many more
This we
know
that all are free
in the school-made
text of the unforgiven
deceit
smiles
incredible hardships are suffered
by those barely able
to endure
but all
will pass
lie down in green grass
& smile, & muse, & gaze
upon her smooth
resemblance
to the mating-Queen
who it seems
is in love
w/ the horseman
now, isn't
that fragrant
Sir, isn't that knowing
w/ a wayward careless
backward glance
July 24,
1968
Los Angeles, The United States, Hawaii