i didn't love because it didn't love

we hardly even knew each other

and that was the glue

      stuck us together

kept us on the ground

while the peaches are in season

the trees just in reach

there’s little left to do

            but teach

i won’t let anyone hurt the pearl

the laudanum

      the mild form of the wild world

none of us

and none of this

      will make amends

let’s not be friends

   let’s not be trite

did you hear the truth song

                                the one by the giant

   ninety three

the more fool   i

it’s an estimate

            of what it’ll be

what you’ll see

in the land of cotton

where old times are

      all but forgotten

palm trees and sunshine

the basis of every story

from the gulf

      but smaller   seven

left to fend for himself

the aristocrat

            the girl

it’s easy to tell the stories

if you don’t let the truth

get in the way

make it a blue dress

make it so there’s

no need to confess

so there’s nothing to regret

      on the shore

in eighty four

      at seventeen

said i didn’t love

because it didn’t love

   in the art class

elaine floyd

   said

what

      said

   how

she was a hippie then

but she’s

      a hypocrite

now

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 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

there is no sitting still

an injury that did not result in death

well

not the type of death that you mean

the shifting landscape of a sad song

of someone listening

a phone call

nighttime wishing

you are either moving toward

or away from the change

standing still standing in sand

you are still moving

it is still moving

the earth is still moving

there is no sitting still

there’s no nine-nine

no west of fields

no more seven chinese brothers

pure tenor quality

the voice of harold montgomery

no more pretending

that the words mean anything

or are well chosen

well guarded

well meaning

nobody is winning

nobody is winning

there is nosuchthing

which does not mean

there is no right or wrong

you can sing the song

it’s not a question of can or can’t

it’s do or don’t

didn’t you know

i am an impatient man

prefer cake to pie

truth to light

inside to insight

with actual tigers

and intricate daydream designs

in the last of the graylight

last of the wine

summer flower dresses

that let in the light

a  joy shared is twice a joy

a sorrow shared is half a sorrow

true today true tomorrow

mine’s day

minion’s day

until the day

in the mines eye of carmelita

the song of chicharita

rose of the desert

the deportees

hartcrane to heart

i wouldn’t say drowning 

but you know

my father said

i was tired 

he must have

known

                                                                                          still

it was

tired

not sad

or upset

tired

and

i

was

tired

and sad and upset

like water

is wet

like night

 is dark

like time

just starts

tearing

apart

tearing

the

part that’s

s t a r i n g

the start

hartcrane to heart