The Gravel Around the Edge of the World

New Jack, new shoes, new slacks

big shoulders, Chicago poems

late summer's water is warm and clear

sand laden beaches and the smells of 

burning meat that the wind lifts and plays with

we share the same girls

Billy Sunday

but mine enjoy the ride

soft hands can't do what

a working man's can

we are the gravel around the edge of the world 

pour this sweat down the sidewalk stormdrain 

work for pleasure, home is for pain

begging the Lord for a little bit easier life

this pain is time and this pain is my own

Billy Sunday says I'm going to hell

but we've touched the same sheets

at the same hotels

I won't take my religion from a man who never bled for it

better have something to show before talking all that shit

 The Sunrise is Coming

Do you know what you did to

me this time?

And how fucking dare you

give me hope again?

Breathe into my lungs fresh

Mississippi wind

in my nostrils 

but Rome inspired everyone 

alive for the glory of the thing

the pride

honor

I'm still alive and kicking 

I have no stress 

over this

no one is equal

and no one gets out alive

values change and desire

dies

chained to my side:

my demons writhe 

chained to my spirit:

that dark girl 

God on the throne of my heart

power the master of my art

think of me when you start

your day east coast

the sunrise is coming 

blood behind my bones

my skin is smooth and unshaken 

I'll be golden 

I'll be gladdened

I'll be given over and whole

 Shoehorn

You were weighed in the balance

and found wanting

and all of our sins 

destroy temples

oh fall of the west

star in the east

you don't get a second chance at 

this

and my heart is split

because of it

the entire church is split in two

half way to 

two 

thousand 

a rip

a tear 

and scales mete out 

copper on 

one side

cash

on the other

a catalytic conversion

I can bring it back to religion 

but you wouldn't get saved

never 

loved 

you 

just dragged it out to use your flesh

as if love were something to choose

just be better 

goddamnit

be her

goddamnit

Spices of Mare Nostrum 

 Cinnamon will save my soul

all ground to powder in my distilled drink

take me back to the Milvian Bridge

I'd like a conversion

girls grabbing at my heart

and my attention 

you can't have it

four wheels moves the body, two wheels moves the

soul.

my prayers are all poems 

and my poems are a prayer

we don't need to go south of the Sahara

civilization stops here

rulers of the Mediterranean with

brown eyes and brown hair

temple columns are trite but soft hills and olive 

trees are a dream of your body

and my arms are Herculean and your

scent soft and sweet

cinnamon and religion 

cardamom and mystery

a breeze, a buttcheek and white silk upon thee

 Words to the Wind

I keep my coffee close and my hardhat clean

water for my son

coffee for me

I still think about Violet

the color of royalty 

power my pursuit 

and so was she

and baby you don't have to lie to me

wireman welders don't have feelings 

but the feelings I had for the purple are overwhelming 

the color of sunrise

over Midwestern skies

all ghosts and words to the wind

number my days and leave me to my sins

I bought her flowers then gave them to the Virgin

I would have forgotten you, Violet 

if it weren't for that wind

and I'm moving on

with no heart in the game

I've been heartless - myself to blame

a product of Achilles rage

an Odyssey of more of the same

night and day

work and play

these words and wind are all grey

I'm a man of the finest burial shroud

but I have nothing to say

just wind

on the Indiana plains.

Things That You Cannot See

 Nothing is warmer than a sunset

Indiana's eve blows a breeze that can balance

the universe

green grass haze in suburban streets

the cookie cutter houses in rows drawn neatly

a lone cul-de-sac and a high pitched dog bark

I've wanted the normalcy of colligiate 

banners soflty cracking over a concrete stoop

I've wanted beauty in the West where the sun sinks deeper than grecian temple columns into Mare Nostrum 

and I've seen a lot

and I'll venture to make steel sweat 

and I'll do it for hours on end

I'll be responsible for making your world 

run the hum of sixty hertz and the hot coils 

that turn one potential to another

line side friend

load side lover

all measurements of what we cannot see

and it's what we can't see that tastes the best

do you hear the soft fire overhead?

strung between what used to be trees symmetrical and wooden, now plumbed true

transmission of power from me to you

the sun sets different in the Midwest 

Indiana has no sights to thrill

but you can't see God and you can't see love

you can't see electricity and you can't see the future 

and you can't see it, but you sure can create the aroma for desire

nothing is warmer than a sunset

nothing

 Out of Pocket

 Sometimes a man walks up a hill

anger outstanding like Achilleus 

never more alone so 

sing oh muse

I was only looking for the things that make a man whole

but one wrong turn 

brings down the hand of doom

out of pocket

she called me dilf

and I called her baby doll

someone got their teeth knocked out

at the bar across from my house

don't push it too far

the aged out with blue

hair pushes back

legs spread like a man 

in front of me she sat

tied me to a tree

like the thief next to Our Lord 

for all to see

remember me 

in your kingdom

when I leave and 

you are free 

Our Lady

of these streets

No Books

Spring's cold cuts 

like diametrical ice

a false summer sunrise

and aren't you still frigid

like a stinging metallic dime in

my pocket with little real value and 

no heat

Jim Morrison said, "The bus gives you a hard on with books in your lap."

No books, I had only a Guns and Roses t-shirt 

and a Tony hawk haircut she always stood up and had to advertise that raven black hair, perfected face paint and her scent, my god her scent...

last night I went deep under a red light

touched her soul from both sides

and I must love her 

for I saw my self, and I told my self

give her your best, she is a barbarian like you not a Roman with raven black magic, not a child of the sea with midnight-colored psyiognomy, not adorned with drizzling jeweled crown

Girls of my dreams are far past midnights and red lights

and spring cuts cold like diametrical ice

Just me and the Lord

Ever the sensualist

twice a bridesgroom

third time's the charm

can Icarus fly too high, or what?

a man must be confident

but my face gave me away

flew too high last summer night

and the moon fell down to the trees

the silence of field coyotes 

stay in your groove kid

don't let it slip

love is worth it

I'm telling you 

compliment me baby

you know this

irresistable to the bones

I'll lay you down

----------------------------------------------

We play chess in the 4th

and love in the third

my desire keeps me waiting 

make your move babe

lips burned from flying fire

girls don't want to fuck average guys

got no one to impress

just me and the Lord tonight

save me from these whores

angel wings in flight

again, like 

Icarus

and if daddy ain't strong, nobody's strong

I had better pray, and you

had better come

 Spades Trump Hearts

Girls open their legs

for drug dealers, not office clerks 

fakes with clean shaves, lots of fat, and nice shoes

the girl in the coffee shop prophesied 

that I would make it to work on time

damnation is not for me 

power of the Holy Cross

and those motherfuckers breed 

and break bread

blessed is the Lord who prepareth my hands for battle because I'm in deep shit

keep my wits 

my head is clean and drug free

 cool like a coma in sunlight behind these 

Pit Viper shades of mine I keep hearing jazz cymbols echo from another place, another time did I write and stage my existence unfolding to the world, a full suit of spades is sharp and trumps the heart.

 

 Welder Girl

That's an ordinary walk

but baby those hips are for kids

wide 

brown eyes I can't help but like

that's some ordinary talk

and lots of smiles 

she holds her own

confidence in a man's world

it's an ordinary name she has

I've seen art on her ass

she makes sparks it's her class

the braids and welder's cap

and that's an ordinary face I was shocked to find

such beauty unrefined in a workshop back room, I made her laugh but not hard, she striked an arc, between us babe, strike that 

spark. 

The Audacity of the Carefree 

 What dreams surround me

and what beets beneath this milky skin

cabbage headed monster that I am

still grooved like a gourd 

birdhouse beat under the ground 

my noodle sister inspire me

words be nimble like stalks of corn

words be quick like a Midwestern storm

demons be nimble, troublesome soul

demons be quick, the jester digs his own hole

bowed low stalks of wheat

just what makes him think he can be so care free

Jack be nimble, don't stand still 

Jack be quick, move a pickup truck around the world 

red radishes in the lips of spades and hoes' tricks

why does a whore want connection and to be kissed?

thrust ships into bone

dry lips we sail alone

images cut like ice 

I once prayed for you, I won't tonight. 

I am not Emperor Justinian and you are not Theodora

I want to save you

your perfume smells 

like the early nineties

you weren't there, but I was

you got me feeling like a mack

your street talk and street swag

shit brings me back

young girl, old soul

so high and yet not satisfied 

even though I went twice

and I awoke the next morning still feeling fire in my abdomen for your sweet insides and memories flash of you laughing with me in your belly

I want to save you

if only I were an emperor

and had the confidence

to know that I can

and there is no game with you

 

only cash

no waiting 3 days to call

no response times

no read receipts

only cash

a tight

red

dress

and what I want

but alas, I am not Justinian 

and you are not Theodora 

only past

like the only tattoo 

on your tight ass

Child of the Romans

Bow down

in the temple columns 

and blood train

before the gods

or the saints 

that have replaced them 

if you wonder 

why I'm in love with you

my ancestors sacked rome

for the girls

not the gold

and I will kill to 

capture your heart

but I don't have to

child of the Romans

bread and circus 

hippodrome and chariots 

do not offer what your insides do

I will kill for you, but would never lie to you 

Slip like Lightning

All energy returns to ground

the universe demands balance

I tried to taste someone new

but couldn't pull the trigger

come to me you negative spirit 

I'll fill you with positive vibes

come to me from the north babe

and I'll show you the south

all energy returns to ground 

we all seek balance

it's just my bad nature

and your good looks make a hell of a fire

I'm holding stars for you

make me pull the trigger

hands to the hips

we can slip like lightning into the ground 

 Pontificating on the Mississippi 

These days I find

my money

often lies

on the mud swole banks of the Mississippi 

river in bags soaked with black oil and bolts I'm found terminating powerhouse controls isophase links and a steady hand to hot glue steel makes the best lover you know it's true

throwing out nets 

for 12 hour shifts

and baby you 

won't 

get 

me 

because I don't behave well

navigate well 

this sea wall

this American river 

what's assumed you should know

ain't always so

start with a handicap 

and told it doesn't matter

the love has to be real

I'm not a social climber

fuck, my love is real

and my enemies are too

 Rythm of Faith

Who else knows 

and who else cares

out here, it is just us

we are our joy

steel and oil

my heart beats

for my friends

blood to my bones 

for them

and ticking clocks

beat the body for pay

and rythm of faith

that when quitting time comes

something better with it

Tame my Soul

 A hundred men come and a hundred men

exchanged for the next shift it's 

a dangerous game you're playing kid

I unfold smiles

my confidence and risk

God is not a magic wand

you get what you get

saints and all

unfolding like cards

every suit and smile from afar

and just maybe that's what they do

in another place, faces drawn up like the sun

unashamed

mask my inner being and tame 

my soul

 Angels Over Mare Nostrum

True story

I used to try and outrun angels

the peeling of a pear -

an unnecessary exercise

a woman's soul is behind her cervix

be damned if you can't get there

In love with a language 

a craft

power tastes better than pussy

if you can master it

stand

don't move

a religion takes over an empire

part two

in step with angels

marble statue

cherub round flesh

in doom and two

we will drink of the rose

and slice off the moon.

Soul Deep

(God in your life)

 When God came calling 

were you peeking around

the corner of that door -

way were you flirting with the idea of

me as your priest

I walk the edge of the earth

and look over the side

always wondering

on a Friday night 

symbols as old as time

relics of a crusade

remind there's a time to live but

mostly we die

in a word you were offered peace

but in another you said goodbye

and God only knows the reasons why for He is 

the only one who can touch your soul deeper than I 

Stay on Point 

 Music is good but

poetry is what makes it

so why not master the language 

It's that southern "bless your heart"      

shit 

that gets me excited 

you can sing but can you

outwit 

the devil and here ya are winning with a bully 

making him chase his tail and laughing like saint George spearing his head we the victorious chant a monotone song of champs 

it's a come around 

like a cool summer

a head to rest near

the edge of a lake 

with a camp girl

and a camp fire

make me warm

babe autumnal 

fire

words blow like 

smoke giving us

meaning and hope

warrior in a garden

another trope but also

a lifeline too many men 

gone to their preferred anodye

sedation is bullshit kid, get up get a 

grip

tilt your head back

just a bit

fast forward to the next millennium 

and the only way to do that is loose your seed

hard and fast 

the earth will recieve the strong

with open arms and joy

just keep your shit

and stay

on point. 

 

 

 

Pomegranate Seed 

(Of Persephone)

When we used to be sensitive to the spirits

you touched nature for the thrill of it

arrowhead in a riverbed and gods beneath 

the streams running wildly in advance

of things to come

dig deep touch

a conduit from 

another time there is a

print of a soul on it

she broke this mustang too quick

and I stopped her in the middle of it

thought of a lie and threw it out

quick but the damage had been done

Cleopatra with her adder 

and I am Mark Antony

stole her from Julius Cesar

with poison still in me

this stallion set free

spooked and foaming 

I rage

and we called it music

you did not know I was a god

myself kings and princes put on the shelf

you didn't know I was beyond your help

I am Hades lord of hell

collect your flowers

collect them well 

it makes sense

for me to 

have 

found you 

with a nymph 

and the earth will

open and you will

see  that there is nothing 

sweeter than pomegranate seed

Live in Bed, Die in Battle 

 Dream softly

enter the sedation

end of discipline

sun-soaked day

nothing but a breeze

removing droplets

from your skin

- stop this -

like messanger birds

breaking a buck out of the rut

epiphanies are flying to me

power of my fathers 

warriors of the Boyne

Jacobites with dark hair

and emerald eyes 

black Irish in my blood

won't be denied 

the savage in my 

love can't be hidden

I want more so I work more

hussars to my left, Celts on my right

my ancestors lived in bed and in battle

they died

 Full Circle

 What tells the wind

move certain ways

and what tells can you

read from these lines on my face

the taste of your home town

in another's embrace is 

an experience to behold

I'm aging but far from old

I'm often pensive when not jocular

and these rhythms of mood 

hold a small world, too big to paint 

like a corn crib near harvest holds the 

orange, September, moon in place

full circle is more than a cliché 

I believe it comes around in more than one way

The Cards We're Dealt

 A psychiatrist 

can give you anything 

but inner strength 

watch your sedations kid

and watch your sleeves

near that machine

I remember being

shocked and being 

pulled back to life

it's life we all want and money we all die for 

but only taste freedom and good things

in a fleeting moment through our sons

so breathe strong autumnal air

we're all headed for death at the end

of a candle you had best embrace that western sun red with a head held high and a confident chest it makes no sense to think of anything else but what we make with what we're dealt.

Blueprints of Intimacy

don't care where we stand

capitalize bird prints in the sand

don't care who knows

an Alexandrian library aflame

blueprints of intimacy

tied in a knot kiss my cheek it touches my soul your name the breastplate of Cleopatra gems enthroned a gleam set deep against the black I reached in and tried to touch your soul offered to tie you to the bed post did what I could I know I thrilled your cheeks reddened like the setting sun 

desire will have what it wants

 A Reprehensible Truth

I was born 

with a flat voice

because God

did not want me singing

He wanted me monotone 

and bringing 

poetry 

heat

Words

might blow 

through you 

like 762 rounds

AK47 Armor-piercing 

no flash supressor for the swagger 

I won't allow myself to be average

even the ugly don't like the average

Judge that 

truth as reprehensible 

but my words and poetry 

as the beautiful

Carl Sandburg's Soul

 Venture the journey

what the road does to 

a man's soul

binds his wounds and makes him whole

travel the craft

tools in hand

and coming home

cash in the bag

the land is flat and open

peeling back layers of stars

the wind hits the back

and the neck and holds 

you like a long friendship

midwest America hits different 

out here there is enough air 

to sweeten the soul

my friends

pork burning

corn turning

a two stroke motor's exhaust lingers in the background 

bourbon in oak

Carl Sandburg's soul

is in my nose

Slip

 Sunday morning

he said he made

her bleed 

bonds get

different as sands shape 

behaviors 

slip

"They all lie, they all paint their faces"

one man says,

"My honey's so good, can't replace her"

says another

I find the truth between 

and desire new sheets

something out of the dryer

recently, unsoiled, soft and 

clean slip your

shape to my bed

and fit well

the mattress is deep

fortune favors the bold

no matter the thread count 

I often find myself trying 

like the devil to replace the 

simplest of items

something not worth a whole lot

be damned, be caught

still slip off 

I must

build myself to tree-like

stature 

ignore the wanton 

lack of pasture 

and graze new towns 

I don't know what comes

after this

but I'll be 

damned if I let 

myself

slip

 

Tells

 Hot crickets lie

cool breeze on my

back and baby what 

was this and how will

you earn me back?

now I know

but maybe I don't 

be still my soul

for answers 

don't come easy

one needs time to adjust

the plot and see

are things as dark as they appear

have we stabbed innocence with a spear?

my soul, too

sits on this breeze

a change of seasons 

thrust upon us like my 

hips into yours 

I'll know all too soon

what to do 

for every curtain closed 

down the hall is a door

light always comes through

so clothe yourself well

artistry, prayers and time 

always do tell. 

Not Nice

 A candle keeps me alive

a candle goes, you know,

as our lives and hopes

who I wish you were

oh 

dear

how I wish you were her

i

am not nice in any sense 

of the word and still this 

hot candle burns

I've only been known

for my heat

only been loved 

for the heat that I bring

i

am not nice 

in any of the right ways

I devour my loves

and they always run away

I'm ok with these 

turning tides

i

not nice, have been known for 

quick desire

turn away when close to the fire

yet this candle still burns

whomever is in my room

my heart still yearns

for what I had with you.

 Against the Grey

When the rain 

has passed and

the sky is left only

grey

there is nothing

but the dull hum of transformers in a switchyard 1.5 miles away

nothing new to see here

just to share a beer

with someone

I do not know 

I know I wish it were whiskey

but I am making me strong

no one speaks of the dull drum

of discipline's lungs

breathing and beating

for it is a shadow

and shadows aren't particularly colorful 

after the rain 

even the sunset is grey

cigarettes don't even taste the same

like a suburban lawnmower in an HOA

personality without any taste

no one speaks of the race

only the glory of first place

but the race is what makes men

and I am being made 

by my own will against the 

grey

even tombstones 

spread wealthily 

amongst the green

excite the mind through

the eyes a contrast of colors

to be refined but the grave is on

furlough and our lives the waiting room

skeletons reclined waiting for a phone call

and when work calls

we will answer

I garuntee we will be on time

after the rain

is only a grey sky

same as a green isle

the green in hazel eyes

a patchwork of ancestors'

lives we pride ourselves on 

saints enshrined in stained glass lines

upward blow the pipes to the sky that is 

still 

grey

not a g'damned thing has changed

dull hums in the key of A

a soft protest of the 

season's change

a sharp blow

to the side

of the face

and when 

standing 

be it tall 

a rebellious

church against 

the rocks beaten by 

the seas also soft blows salt

briny foam and every other diadem 

set enthroned at the end of glory cometh 

on the other side of the

grey

 This river feels dead

but I know it's not black tree 

line and one owl speaks

the silence and the raptor 

remind me I dont know you

 With a Million Stars

Come here my love

understand I want more

most popular culture is

training for whores

I don't judge that

but understand 

I will fill your insides

I'll descend my hands 

to your sides 

back into me

call me daddy

my darkness

I am imbued with

the spirits of my dead friends

I am the new

Hades

and you are my Persephone

ride with me

die with me

your eternal hair

envelopes me

watch me murder Hercules

watch me reach higher than Icarus

watch me bite harder than Cerberus

baby, dream with me and let me fill your dark insides with a million stars.

 Our Preferred Blend

"She is

bad

-I mean in real life."  he said

the honor of her beauty, something 

to defend

draw back your wallet pic, son

you won't be home anytime soon 

habitually a man doesn't draw back

and I never apologize for that 

risks I took - consequences be damned

I always feel 

and am never shook

my brother is in a wilderness 

a place I have been

home would be nice

and so are warm friends

but the brotherhood of oil is thicker than all of 

them

muscle and steel nothing soft in this black land

fuel and blood we build with our hands

our lives shortened and saturated by our preferred nicotine blend

 

Hope is the Secret Sauce

 Twenty two and half degrees to the left

rain cuts the trees of forest 

push down leaves in darkness

I have to sleep but this is no challenge 

for 

I am the terror

I am the sasquatch 

the lord of this manor of darkness

man never fears the wood

the wood fears the man 

for 

will to kill is more

powerful than an instinct

this shrub is an ode 

to my strength 

not here to kill or

destroy with wanton

only calculated 

and clean

within reason

bravery's reward is

greater than fear's comfort

a man juts out in the wild

like the trees jut out to the expanse 

a bold attempt to touch the stars

don't let up on your hope boy

hope is the secret sauce that makes us men

despondency is a warm blanket to smother your desires' end

Only Darkness is My Love

 Sick lines

and hot metaphors

I have a few hours

I present them as an offering to an ancient god

a little bit of black ink 

and a little bit of mystery 

mixing in the bloodstream 

isn't it invigorating?

my love

my lady

the night that you bring me 

is darker than shadows on a white page all my ink spilled will ever be 

black, cloud covered night, rain thrashing trees

my heart is contented and over joyed with thee

it's you

 and your dark hair, eyes and breast-peaks

that 

enthrall 

me.

Die Like Moses

 A transformer sings electricity 

behind me, it's something you cannot see

only the work from steam 

to tea

only steel and the roar-thrum of turbine

passing by a thousand times per second

one magnetic line of flux 

throws an electron down an isophase

through space time at a frequency 

that cannot be denied 

High voltage electricity is like God

If you were to see that which keeps you alive

Like Moses, you too would surley die.

 The Vision That Fills My Soul

Cicadas are a dog whistle to the end of summer

a bold whisper against the cool breeze and clear autumnal sky

laundry waving on a line

pencil in my life - sketch or an outline

of time passing by

like a speeding Amtrak

click clack against the rails, my heartbeat

the engine's thrum, my rushing blood

I wouldn't stop until I see that smile in front of the sun, cheeks turned up making your eyes tight and teeth like soldiers at bold attention, proclaiming thier victory.

we

dream

until colored

leaves filter sun 

and alchemize her fingers

gold and that is

the vision that

fills my

soul

Hotter, Coarser, Blood

 Couldn't move past you

fast enough

Couldn't get over your seductive words

in time

I took a drive 

and realized 

you sold me the dream

and it's still alive 

and I am vivified 

hotter, coarser, blood there cannot be

my mind is lapping the intensity