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.