GALWAY SKETCH TWO [from the vault]

GALWAY SKETCH TWO

Gailimh;

with your slowwaking

raindark roads,

iron skirts pulled down

tight against the night.

you are not halfhospitable,

loosenighted, slowwaking

Gailimh,

eelroaded, eelrivered,

rainhearted Gailimh,

you are no stranger’s place.

DON'T GO THINKING

DON'T GO THINKING

the earth yawns / Bored and disgusted, to do us down

a new

Gordian

knot, a

:;:

wag your

fucking tongue.

we are

all not

:;:

a.

CROWED

CROWED

cast your stomach into
the river, augur, let

the current carry away
the smoke, sweet and
skullsick, your

legs only need to be
an hour long, you

hope.

ON DAWN

ON DAWN

the aside cast,
a way given,
undrawn blood spilt

along the road,
unwinding as though
a bandage, undone

:;:

AWE TOME KNELL

AWE TOME KNELL

depart your brass
warm air, your
paper shredded skin,

all now is
leaving, leaving us
to chase behind,

ushered along by
some well deserved
chill.

BEHOLDEN

BEHOLDEN

your self

narration chains

us to drowned

hours, some

sun sets

:;:

but it was

never ours.

DEXTER

DEXTER

lay aside yr.

tinfoil

gratitude,

yr. trio of

words that

can be said,

all you desire

is so clearly

de

:;:

served

INEXTRICABLE

INEXTRICABLE

door eaters, we

mumble splintered

curses, prayers,

haunted by years

yet to enter.

BLÓÐ

BLÓÐ

drink yr

god damned

fill.

stretch yr desicated

finger towards

each one you

wish cursed.

carve the lead,

bury the tablet

beside the heart-shaped

mound or yr septic tank.

you are a true

one of us.

AKEN

AKEN

unhanded,

or,

wishing it

to be

so.

HOARSE

HOARSE

hallelujah

:;:

name fuck,

hurtle, a

circle, go

back, unspeak—

THE LEVER

THE LEVER

begs to pry

open

the cage of the crate,

yet—

hesi—

tates.

LOWERING

LOWERING

let the sun plod,

each day we take

our handful of

earth to swallow,

grit-throated, as

the topography

demands.

JACK PINE

JACK PINE

sink and wait,

wait—

you're not fly—

ing, you are

the needle brown—

ing drought.

COCKATRICE

COCKATRICE

cobble gazed

stare orbs,

roam, full,

gut my

weasel skin.

BODY IS TRUE

BODY IS TRUE

we are that
demiurgic cabal

left alone,
together

under the heavy
expanse of the

empty, eyewateringly
blue sky, jostling

each other aside
to claim our turn to

press our fingers
into the cold, dead

clay, willing it
to be anything,

anything but
meaningless and

inert.

FOMER COUNTRY

FORMER COUNTRY

the moon leers,

'I am no

singer'

fuck you-

r gutter

throat.

Be done.

Be gone.

naɪf

naɪf

I am my

own

blade, dulled

to a dangerous

point.

THE CURATOR

THE CURATOR

approximate knowledge

& social unease,

all labeled carefully

& placed amidst other

cultural ephemera,

made worth less now

that they have been

forced into his

demiurgic arrangement.

VIRGIN GEOGRAPHY

VIRGIN GEOGRAPHY

and the flat surfaces slip away

each expedition was a failure,

everything too new was all that

was found. the stars beguiled

and lost us, the snows washed

away the sun, while shelves of

ice slunk past you into the cool,

disinterested sea—what you found,

you found: nine armed starfish,

orange as a discarded peel, a coin

as leaden as the slumbering clouds,

the wind spoke to your lungs, that

stole each breath we made.

ASIDE

ASIDE

rubiconical, decided.

you make your mouth

into the door you slip

out through.

a maze you 'forget'

to bring the twine

of your eyes into.

'stead your fingers

seek the limits of that

enclosed path.

you left the end already,

you left your shoes and

feet, but your tongue and

fingertips will never cease.

“Every word that you speak / Is a word they have made.”

“Every word that you speak / Is a word they have made.”

devour my tongue, sow
the rich black asphalt



with my spongy teeth.
we are not taut enough



yet

string my sinews,

they are yours to make

sing, to make mockery

of my feeble throat.

BIRCHES

BIRCHES

twinned and windswayed,

skin torn by the boys,

overeager and dreaming

the scraps are blank paper,

but they will never write

upon them, not about your

beauty, anyway, more likely

it's destined instead to be

just more kindling for

their unwise fires.

ABERKEINESPURVONDIR

ABERKEINESPURVONDIR

ravenously

unslaked,

we slink,

jaws agape,

to that still

bare

table.

UPON THE ROCKS

UPON THE ROCKS

all tails laid aside,

long ago they were taught

what it is to wait.

their beauty shaped,

like the cliffs, by the

constant crash of the captured sea,

by the weight of the waves

and the weeks, carrying away

all that will no longer be

a part of their whole.

NAR CIS US [from the vault]

NAR CIS US

every thing is
a mirror (if
you polish enough)

even your hands
cupp'd and fill'd
with water held

still will show
your only love.
your only face.

BELLY

BELLY

hal's cruel nobility
deflates you,



you are the
too, too frequent



guest, outworn,
yr put upon greatness,



unthrust, “sack



:;:



more sack

miniscule (apologies to St. Gira)

miniscule (apologies to St. Gira)

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