the way of worth

the difference

between distance

and dignity

      laid the barrel

in his mouth

 close eyes

      almost out

almost

      done

   you

did what you had to do

and didn’t like

who you became

which was the way

of the world

the way

      of worth

for the contrarian

making the whole process

more complicated than it has to be

no-body would disagree

it matters not

how good you are

what good you do

or does it

is the final measure

more than cronbach’s alpha

more than just seeing

if the same answer

can be had again

are any answers

sacred

is any

          thing

   say

      cred

      sake

   read

for goodness sake

       for pete’s sake

my sake

   for me

what about that

years speeding up

only to slow down

in libraries

and on dirt roads

in locker rooms

in your mother’s home

atop her piano

more for holding up

photographs

than stirring chords

or sweet songs

sing along

   sing

alone

none of this

and none of you

see

the sunset

was not meant for you

nor was it meant for

everyone else

stone stuck

staring at it

without the words

to make a stand

only word enough

to meet demands

of consumer culture

that coffee colored vulture

with a shaker to the right

a stolen glockenspiel in the center

                                                          its silver bars glimmering in the middle

   of it all

the glimmer

   is something you hear

and if you hear it well

   you can see it too

you can make it through the

   hoop

through the roof

   even

and if that’s not enough

to get you to stop calling me

      steven

   then i don’t know what else

i can do for you

                         friendo

   defend it

make a case

tell me why

you ended up in this place

and why you feel such a strong want

   to heal the hate

to set it straight

   from out of state

the harm’s long gone

don’t you know that son

don’t you forget what we told

you when we said that

we know what the color yellow

   is

what the color yellow

   was

what the worth of work depends upon

when we sat on the back bumpers of fords

      always more than one

and just wanted to play golf

before we went back to work

before we came home

from the moon

or from utah

where god only knows what happened

and what that meant

the port in the storm

called itself arthur

but you always said

   ‘author’ like it was writing

our story

from the gulf coast

   ankle deep in crude

            strike broke

didn’t seem right to me

at the time

doesn’t seem any more right

now

despite my red subaru

and three green semesters

for the contrarian

the septuagenarian

   who tricked me

every day of the week

 *leaf cutting by Hillary Waters Fayle

http://hillaryfayle.wordpress.com/

the elephant is no longer in the room

malcom mooney is walking to work

malcom motherfucking mooney is walking to work

the allan b. locke school

the children are all out   side

the children are on the out   side

and the in   side

of the allan b. locke school

and they don't know

      no they don't know

they don't know malcommotherfuckingmooney like i know malcommotherfuckingmooney

and he is walking in the door

he looks typical

                                                               i'll say that again

he looks typical

         raincoat

      hat

   slim

      cropped hair

no longer wild and driven batshit crazy by the stylish but somehow still german

      with repetitious rhythms and

twelve years since ‘below this level there is none’ 

if that was 1998 and i live in buffalo now

then i don't live in atlanta no more and

      the elephant is no longer in the room

                                                                  most days

*art by Malcom Mooney

from 'Three Corner Symphony'

the simpler life

lucy cured lonelieness

         in the sand

        with a branch

she had to

what’s changed

age

      forgiveness

that virtuous luxury

honor

is an only child

it’s foolish

              but fine

         and

looks mean everything

         the simpler life

cotton wool

      cement

eitzel

      recompense

a sacred charge

from the lord

      a binding contract

where

      half is never half

unless

         it has to be

                                                                                             

sounds like laughing

                                                                 from a distance

we didn’t get along when she was alive

but things are different

                        when you die

i know what a woman at the top of a staircase means

      toeing worn wood

staring at saving grace

      the last line

the seized ships

      ruby      red      lips