wild eloquence
translated into dog
a walk by the sea
angry as a noon toothache
raw and alone
the sea books a ticket
to my sleep
morning like a counterfeit bill
but the sea is the sea
a dozen white gloves go quiet
playing at cards
I walk a while
attending the talk of water
a virtuoso at rope
the wind aboard the ships
as we went down to the dock
for strong coffee
I take great pleasure in doubt
never prince was happier than I
who bled out of my own temple
an ox making my home by the sea
the office is a prison
we promise to go to
but I do not know
where I am with the sea
I walk the street to show myself
among neighbors
discourse of something
that may bring a little money
touch nothing but stuff
of our own manufacture
like writing in a journal
with no self
I dream of sea
the raw and horrid cod
I dream in a green chamber
ducks and teals coursing through
I could not reach my wife
her thin astronomy
dinner in a can
I listen for company’s sake
to the night sea
I wake to her silence
tired of being read by others
her other face
against my heart
her body in my hands
as bland as a letter from sea
not yet light
I put my hand in the sea
to learn the difference between
air and prayer
The sea, to our great
wonder, is a well.
Captain, tell me stories
of cards playing cards,
money that lost money,
greed made a creed.
O talk high of France
for a fine country,
the tavern for a parliament
staid in talk.
A year at sea, and
the worm in my heart
is like a train through
a city I never heard of.