29 December 2011

roughly
half


there’s a bird on tom delay’s shoulder
he looks like the kind of bird you might see
in the air
but he just sits there
unbeknownst to most
he turns his head
to look for the past
coming rightup
coming right
up

the feathers ruffled
when the first one pled guilty
to about half the things he did
about half

roughly

      half

of the crimes
he committed
you see that was part of the plea deal
it was the check mate
on the big wheel
and several television stations
ran the footage of
categorical denials

knight to queen six
check
rook takes pawn
check
bishop takes rook
queen takes bishop
check
it wasn’t technically ‘illegal’
pawn turns on his own queen
check
knight circles his own king
check
but bishop takes his own pawn
the water subsides
for a day
or a
night

pawn takes bishop
maybe everything’ll be alright
and even thought it seems to wear the same coat
the king looks nervous
the cat turns into a goat
knight defers
the bishop moves into place
the king’s last laugh
is in your face
the king’s lowly former pawn
turned consultant
produces a large wad
of hundreds

hands out tobacco checks before the vote
invites all the cool kids back to his boat
blows a quick ring of fog with his cigarette smoke
and says ‘yeah, i did it, but who’s gonna know’
and even if they knew
      what are they gonna do

well
bishop to knight five
the king is still alive
and nobody thought it’d go this long
but somewhere the worker bees start humming the song
and find just enough cash to buy an iphone
then everyone forgets
and we all go home

home
home
on the
flange

on the
tangential
      lunatic
  fringe

where end game scenarios
play out in texas, florida and ohio
and five seats are enough to get things through
so reverend delay did what he had to do
before he turned out to be expendable
    too

15 December 2011

you know it's time for you to go


 in the company of corpses
      three nights
   three times
         three

   and then
it’s up to me

they don’t say anything
they aren’t listening
   but
one shifted
and turned in the night
i woke
with a start
   asked ‘is everything allright?’
   before i chance remembered
before i gave to flight
   i tried


now   i no more read it
than lived it
      that’s just the facts
the fuse was dipped
then lit
   it glowed a good long time
      in low light

the higher the hang
the more dead   the ore
and that leads directly
   back to the corpse

have no doubt that the logic is sound
the sun comes up
just as surely as it goes down
now   if you’d come in the summertime
when there’s more accommodating ground
when the sight doesn’t much bother
    with the sound
and the hills hold fate
in the meaning of song
   they know how to sing
how to sing along
   alone
and undone


that’s english
where you feign death
the pressure works
from either end
to your middle

     muddled

big pressure
waits for words
understands what is heard
friendly chinese
two hours
or three

do not use
   this time
to explain
      use the time
to reclaim the remains
   introspection
is your name

that water was cold enough
and the bottle filled right on up
but   i bow out
hold back
   held down
         it is no worry of mine
on a black horse
   for hope
and through the kind of rain
that only wants to be
   snow

it weeps
  then it moans

you know it’s time
      for you to go