"The Devouring Flame"

*To/For Susan Howe*

did you want to hear
every word of this
unbroken poem
that slides through names
unsettling their meanings?

did you want to break these words
with a sweet rhythm
beautiful to sing?

then think like napalm
sticking to everything
and burning through
the bitter core

the approximate center of this poem. is the locus of its only meaning. which is the it it is attempting to alter as it sends itself toward any meaning. divisible by any number. yet atomic by its own design.

names in blood:names in mirrors:names of names:names of naming

the words i forgot to utter i regret remembering forever after.

sand passes through my fingers. the faster i pick it up. the sooner it runs through and away like a hero attempting to escape the narrative in which he's been thrust. it is a defense against noise. forgetting what cannot be altered. we escape by writing against the Author who inscribes our lives.

as settles in the wake of an all consuming sleep. those made of fire cannot burn; nor touch; nor ever be touched.

stillness is one thing after a storm
quite a curse if perpetual.

Fear of Dreaming / to-for Jim Carroll

tomorrow's minds shot down by the emptiness of clouds. that obliterate the stars from sight. (they'll see us dreaming) & we will have no hope. & we will cling to sand. new forms before we're gone. this will happen. regardless of our designs. and our bedrooms will fill with tomorrows and sediment. and spill like marbles out of our dumb hands. dispossessed of our possessions. crawling with vines. discovering its eyes. feathers into an aquarium. engines of intention. destroyed the moment they are shared.

"hungry gods"

hungry gods
zip through the winds of nagasaki
inhaling the tophet's smoke
& the manners of the morningstar
rip through our grid
we become what we be hold
the shock of recognition