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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“SOMETIMES I THINK I HAVE THE DREAMS CONTINOUSLY EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY, PERHAPS WE ALL DO...”

“SOMETIMES I THINK I HAVE THE DREAMS CONTINOUSLY EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY, PERHAPS WE ALL DO...”

time is a slumber

drowsily devouring

each day

collecting along the

webbed cracks of

an empty—you know

what belongs here,

if you don't, your

spinal fluid still

does.

ASYMETRICAL OBJECTS

ASYMETRICAL OBJECTS

a fractured porcelain moon

glimmering dully on an asphalt sky

the television's plaintive whine

rising up to greet the arterial dawn

a body next to a body next to a fall—

the horizon and its dark opposite

crushing the day like a bloodied jaw

nine arms after nine hours serving

a solitary twilight, drawn into a

presumptive embrace, a sleeping draught,

water carrying itself to rest, to gurgle

away another night.

“MOORED AGAINST ITS TERMINAL PIER AND COVERED WITH GNOMIC AND MEANINGLESS GRAFFITI”

“MOORED AGAINST ITS TERMINAL PIER AND COVERED WITH GNOMIC AND MEANINGLESS GRAFFITI”

sunthrummed into

a later age,

unblinking, the

world sails

from itself,

unended but

returning, bringing

us to that

blistering beginning.

EXTRICATE

EXTRICATE

doorlegged you

remain six paces

a'head, willing

prey, unwilling,

your paper-horned

Actaeon doggedly

behind.

THE MOONLIGHT OR HER SKIN [from the vault]

THE MOONLIGHT OR HER SKIN

'nunc tibi me posito visam velamine narres,

sit poteris narrare, licet!' nec plura minata

dat sparso capiti vivacis cornua cervi,

dat spatium collo summasque cacuminat aures

cum pedibusque manus, cum longis bracchia mutat

cruribus et velat maculoso vellere corpus

every night before that day,

for months, he had no sleep,

but his breath caught in his throat,

the baying of the night hounds

echoing in his ears, as he dreamt,

staggering through black woods,

the Huntress looking down

at him from the milky moon,

her blue eyes the clear pools

among the pine forests of his

sleepless dreaming—and after

those restless nights, when that

day finally came, his friends flushing

out hart and doe behind him,

with that dread pool ahead, water

gone still in the silence of his sight,

he knew he would never turn his gaze away—

EARH

EARH

the reassurance

of muddy bones,

debased and laid

down, defending

some right, some

noble dram, left

undrunk

DIMINISH

DIMINISH

lēaf tongued,

now blank, staid.

:;:

effortless, if

we claim an

air.

EVER'THING

EVER'THING

languish, you say,

cobble tongued,

a cancellation upright—

:;:

screen blind, daft,

awaiting a second's

hand to crack the

geologic emptiness

of the dry and

imagined swimming

pool.

BLANK

BLANK

eyeless ,we

slide along,

fingertipping,

sloughing off

callous, after

callous, desperate

to keep the pain

fresh, to ensure

that we know

where we are.

SIGH TUN SCENE

SIGH TUN SCENE

hear as yore chants,

on tea kin, on red,

on herd—

awl these tars

cold bay long

two ewe, in

state hay weight,

ah loan, on

scene, called end

dissed ant.