clouds – other animals

please ask me to
kill for you ask
me to imprint
each foot with the
ridges of my
best teeth ask me
to comb the clouds
into candy
for the joy of
toothless trash cans
throughout the land

who knows if this design will agree to
finally fly but the caves in
the round curves of the vast rolling
hills of the summer clouds call so
sweetly to the lonely bird in my chest

Sonnet

skimmed emails we deleted too quickly
may have mentioned the forest of bright spears
and ships ready to launch, but once we saw the
reports on the quarterly report from
Ichthyosaur & Associates we
had no doubt what they were up to with those
color-shifting lobbyists and gift baskets
reeking of brine and though they wrote of missed
opportunities no one missed the flotsam
flecked with blood, tossed by ceaseless waves that could
break on our belovèd beans just learning
to climb towards those heavy clouds pierced by sun—

he stopped, mumbled something roses fingers
dawn and walked away from the empty chairs

red the dog barks at sunset clouds but not forever

(First published in Under the Basho.)

partly sunny and less humid with an appalling face in the clouds

(First published in Heliosparrow.)

Another day closer
yet the cicada yet

how do you write
again and by

you I mean

the way the
last light bends

slowly around a
lilac cloud as
the breeze gathers

thoughts
as they
exhale

If/Then

if fire cracks the mirror
then clouds may part to reveal her face

if night passes like a kidney stone
then the box is returned unopened

if the damp gets irrevocably in
then an unequivocal answer will be found

if the suburbs are raided
then your recipe will be forever changed

if we ignore first principles
then insects will tire of carrying us

before I’ve started I
give up on this little
story surrounded
by the almost noise
of air conditioners
slow unseen aircraft
the last breath of
why can’t I just

stop me if you’ve heard this one

but no it’s just
from here we see
trees burning birds
thud to the ground
apartments collapse
spilling canned peas
and plastic dolls into
a stream and clouds
and clouds and clouds

though the team was broken up we still hoped that somehow we would triumph over the league of loners though we were weak and needed supplies and spicy food with which to regain our competitive edge and as the day finished drawing obscene doodles in the clouds through the gaps in the tall buildings we occasionally glimpsed the blimps of our enemy scanning for weaknesses to exploit though this all feels like ancient history since the hastily written but iron-clad armistice ushered in the new golden age no one really wanted

Remember to

Forget what you know sit softly
lulled by the sound of hundreds of
pens simultaneously writing down
your mistakes think of clouds
over that chasm you love

Forget the ad that is following you
keep sharpening your teeth into points
we’ll see if we can find a knife and a few

layers of breathable fabric as you
start off stinging wind your boot brittle
grass bright crunch beneath

Forget it and start again don’t think of pathogens
the tickle in your throat give the pills a chance

outside flashes of red flowers one ant
carries his scrap of stone down into the dark