Summanus chants
Ratri Ratri

supple thunder
Anoints the collared courtesan

worthy now to rove within his sovereignty

allowed hommage
palm may rest upon her lovers marbled skin

no awl to fear
no elegy to prose

Black trees
Dead grass
Dusty roads
Seen through
Venetian blinds
Become
Grand Canals
Sun tossed wavelets
And bobbing gondolas

On Brighton Beach
she had me

structuring castles with toe holds
and a moat to hold the ocean back

In those days
I could do no wrong

After thirty years
and many human failings

I still catch a glimpse
from her eyes
the stardom of fatherhood

Fate
The first date
He couldn't wait
To mate
Not procreate
But sate
Now she's late
He hates
The rate
Growth generates
Her belly emanates
Baby evacuates
Don't Commiserate
His Mood elevates
He recreates
That first date
And the first mate
Fate

Folly often takes sweet youth

down pathways somewhat, strange,

confusing everything 'till way off track;

I understand each lesson

has a universal rule,

but, there are many found in each & every stack!

It's resulted in one large lump

words do my throat, betray;

is there nothing that will thwart the powers that be?

I reckon we'll find quite enough

of the evidence it will take,

to convince fate it weren't you, & it weren't me.

Just be quiet & imagine

Jesus, were am I
In heaven young one
What about my family

I promise they will be okay
Aren't you supposed to protect me?
From bad things

The almighty Jesus shed a tear
And said yes that’s why
I brought you home

Come let me show you the swings
The slide and all the candy
You desire my young son

I want my mommy
My brother and my teacher
I know you do
That’s why I built you a window
So you can see them everyday

I still have the old Browning shotgun
my father willed to me
and I pass it on to my own son
a bit before I cease to be

It's a semi-automatic style
stock and finish worn by his old hand
I hold it and it makes me smile
to think of him hunting the wild lands

I also own a rifle just for deer
I bought it used long, long ago
another semi-automatic, I fear
carried through rain and sun and snow

Gaunt the corridors of my mind,
their darkened passages dim lit by torches,
tongs of youth from fiery embers brandished
in my brain, to waken thoughts
that frightened with their pain.

Such memories of walking in the night,
hurriedly along the hedges, over streets,
when rain came lashing down
and thunder clapped the sky,
as if some danger stood close by.

I can visualize you
as a serpent
entwined
with another one
chaste at first
then roar like a lion

You emerge the strongest
of lovely men
robust
humorous
cantankerous

and
then like a rolling discus
the ones you twine with
will you curse…
when in them
you finally disburse…

the perilous
of all humanly wine
then once you un- entwine
you will find another
snaky one in line

till then lover poet
remain like wine
in a position you entwine...

ACETATE

squinting through lens
upon an epoch in time
the light appears darkest
the darkest appears light
I inhale oxides
reversing the negative
yellowed curled edges
refocus distortions
your frame clears