Poetry makes nothing happen
my limp little purpose
begins to tire me
I am the canary
in this particular mine
a prison of my own
I hear both sea and soldiers
use their great guns
when I get nothing almost
to sing about
Anxious poems
Anxious poems — a collection of the best works on Poemship.
Canary
wakened by a thought
a little thought
my heart all astir
like a horrible goddamned canary
that speaks with my mouth
Miserly
afraid to be seen
going up the back stairs
with a crow for a hand
I am heavy as a shut door
all I have is my gold
and a bed full of fear
Global weirding
water born from a cloud
believes in us
who eclipse the weather
(so hot nowadays
I cannot sleep)
mixing money up with heaven
High hopes
the sudden puppet
of my heart is up
to any hope I have
I do not trust it
the news is like death in the air
come to some prize fish
White space
going to the good
end of town
we see a light
dull as a white fist
that would not endure surprise
Gambler’s spell
dice found in the dead man’s pocket
which my hand now shake
write out like a dagger
all my red ink
Homilist
the great fire says
we are a people made for destruction
an excrescence of the earth
I find it a dull sermon
and go home to a cold little house
full of night
(Re)turning
we grow crazy
waiting for it
I turn and turn with the clock
nature is sick
and therefore gives it to us
her bastards
who believe in a Lord
with her mouth
who have little
reason to hope
who could repent still
or so gravity tells me
I fell into my creature parts
a raw remonstrance
of the war writing itself
in our many-necked Mayday
Visceral
given the land
given love
an enlarged mouth makes things over
parts play a part
the very heart gone
to supper
House arrest
a little new history
and a little hell
and home here
is like an old gun
full of bark and use
and little action
Like the plague
I have not left my house
in a year I will not
be killed by plague
or war I avoid them like
an infected kiss
what weather we have
I do not know how likely
is the heart to sink or
to sing
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