An oldie from 2001...

WINTER GLOVES

i move my bones
and feel the wind
i miss my home

the tree-lined world
the sallyfied phone
the trigger tightens
the body prone

i put on my winter gloves

eyes blind by blinking
i’m glad just thinking
in the trench to-night

but you see my hands
aren’t made for guns
they’re for winter gloves
and blocking the sun

with one winter glove on my left hand
and one winter glove on my right hand
off I walk into the night
the fallen snow is mostly white

i once had some friends
their names were matthew
mark, luke, and john

the soldiers died
one by one
there’s no more dancing
no more fun

and with one winter glove on my left hand
and one winter glove on my right hand
off I walk into the night
the fallen snow is mostly white

Winter Gloves

"velveteen delusion"

shaky hands will greet you
but should the shanking go too far...

let's hear that song
inside your head
if it isn't too long
in the back of the shed
you shouldn't have read
how the new disease can harm you

under the skin
a fragile bone
who'd strangle a wren
with the cord from a phone
who wouldn't condone
that subtle kind of curfew

lord have mercy
lord have mercy
lord have mercy
we're living in a velveteen delusion

we'll be whatever we can make of it
till we're real
till we feel
like we're real

bleak thoughts are free
it fogs, it rains
makes a come back at three
paints some white on the stains
we haven't a pain
in the waning light of tuesday

what's in the sack?
a want or a need
or special visions to track
on a pallet of reeds
you don't have to bleed
like a roller skating junior

lord have mercy
lord have mercy
lord have mercy
we're living in a velveteen delusion

later life
will be whatever we can make of it
till we die
look alive
till we die

Velveteen Delusion

"a drop of blood"

the shallow cells are upended
a drop of blood and a warrant
not this time

the daughter's featureless visage
the garden empty at morning
two hands tied

tender
tender the fallen frame
under
under the polished blade

tender
tender the fallen frame
under
under the polished blade

we never liked that face
a cinder in the flames
a lack of light
in the night
falls at our feet

a little compromise
a set of hidden thighs
attack of sighs
make it right
under the sheets

we said it's just a phase
but you never could keep pace
keep that sweet look
and that sweet tooth
in your face

bloodline in slow decay
we launched a slow decay
a splinter on the rain
but the puppy can stay
two bruised eyes cry all night
hands below cheeks

perpender
survive the cinder frame
above remnants of our decay
(you said it's just a phase)

perpender
survive the cinder frame
above remnants of our decay
(we watched the slow decay)

the shallow cells are upended
a drop of blood and a warrant
not this time

A Drop Of Blood

"black spruce"

memories
they tend to follow you
lagging strands behind the brand new

first we walked
and then we learned to crawl
between the sheets
to save us all

chose a path
and got struck by a train
on a hillock green with grain

our last truce
beneath a dead black spruce

Black Spruce

"new birds sing"

a coffee pot in the child's room
we place the poison in each corner
in hurried dreams that sleep
recurring deathlessly
a tea kettle in the child's room

break day
hear the new birds sing
a satellite
in the night
falls at our feet

we turn to the ante-choir
we tear up the photographs
a digital refrain
a physical restraint
a door ajar for the dark room

day breaks
feel the new bird sing
a parasite
black and white
flaps its wing

we always thought it might happen
nightfall and with weapons
moonlight on the lawn
where two rights make a wrong

the lost smoke spills and the spin down
pale blue fills in the foreground
a tapestry of groans
with meat left on the bones

the object on the windowsill
is like the rain that runs uphill
and falls apart

the blackboard in the forest green
has chalks of marks and hoops and strings
that fall apart

still at light
in the short slide
off down the street
on two feet

silent freight
not to resuscitate
hold the sound
til it drowns

New Birds Sing

"why some houses burn"

give the jib line some slack
as we lay on our backs
but keep a few rags
in our flight bag

who can we trust?
endless we dust!
grind on the ring
as the digits are sliding

this is why some houses burn

the last pass was wrong
by a furlong
round and spikey
'neath the gum tree

fixed a broken bike spoke
'neath the old willow oak
and told some dad jokes

this is why some houses burn

wade through the stream
on a split screen
the future will sag
raise a pink flag

how many, how many, how many

someday we'll learn
why some houses burn
in a downturn

Why Some Houses Burn

"Smiling The Right Way"

We keep sending it
Via standing waves
We keep feeding it
Through the interface

Ends definitive
Corners closely cropped
Split infinitives
Blur the bitter top

Smiling the right way now
We have made it back home somehow
To a sanguine lair in the hay
For our babbling stream
Of weak solutions

Smiling the right way now
We have made our way down somehow
To a coracle in the bay
Take a seat and finally learn how

Soon we'll be gone
But we'll leave with a serenade
About the moon on the lawn
And the plans we made

Free, right or wrong
It's not worth remembering
Now we're gonna have to move along
We're gonna have to move along

Climate

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