#2356 -- a footlong dog at the burgermaster fifty years ago

 

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a footlong dog at the Burgomaster fifty years ago

boys’ own

 

who could we cram behind the backseat of the beetle?

T!  A drove his tripping once, not far

that cannot have been a good idea

 

mainly we were on foot until then

or else on two wheels, self propelled

and sometimes there were brakes

 

the train for more remote adventures

there was the Charles, there was the Greengate

no bouncers, but they’d size you up

 

there was the uncles’ Christmas Scotch

mum and dad didn’t drink, would never miss

three of us down at the old quarry

 

a three way split, vomit

these, it turned out

were all survival skills

#2355 -- the picture gets bigger and bigger

 

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the picture gets bigger and bigger

for Ralph Wessmann

 

don’t we call that kind of thing progress?

 

a world expands as we describe

 

worlds multiply

they shine their suns

make moons of a latest fling

 

take all in

 

the picture gets bigger bigger

we’re all from a song sheet singing

 

thing to sneak past, lurk in a crack

doesn’t matter what you think

always leave a trail

 

life lengthens to be lived

and in the end, sink

to the full extent of this law

 

it’s like looking out from the whale’s jaw

before you’re counting the ribs

#2354 -- walking in the after rain

 

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walking in the after rain

 

a Tuesday trickle mist singing

 

light never to be repeated

             falls

and then the sun again

               a proof

 

stand on a leaf

set beak to meditation

 

the cleft and settle mist and clear

shows up a valley fold

 

one goes on from here

 

these are the bones of my day

#2353 -- at all events

 

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at all events

 

strange armour

the damaged wear

squeaking past the fact

and often blame themselves

for the crimes of the scot free

lounging smug

have you heard them say

‘there’s always a choice’?

and something must be true

 

they blame themselves away

 

done to and doing

kicked up for a fuss

they know to be scared

the damaged do

 

try to think of it without religion

you fuck up every time

#2352 -- planning a more portable life

 

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planning a more portable life

 

an ant’s way in the moss

   little filching

forest framed with rain

 

I decided to swim in just this skin for it

for instance

 

to go with these few thoughts

     nothing scratched

 

country other than this flag

and for a song

 

I am turning over the leaf

of the coin

of a heart held high

 

I am a moment in the mirror

I am going now

holding the camera still

#2351 -- tilt

 

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tilt

 

it’s when we’re furthest from

we walk into the sun

 

I grow a tree

beyond myself

 

it’s not just me

 

creatures come sunning

preen for the mirror as if

 

how fearless all the gone must be

 

there really is no tomorrow

 

it’s all about balls and how they spin

 

a tilt

game on again

 

#2350 -- everything dreamt is true for all time

 

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everything dreamt is true for all time

 

nothing is forgotten there

 

people in the dream live forever

 

they come before

they go beyond

 

we are at the frontier

 

the dream is an age of miracles

 

it’s after time, it prefigures

 

tricks the heart to beating again

 

everything dreamt is true

 

we witness the meeting of parallel lines

 

when everyone is free

when everyone is heard

 

it’s only the dreamer forgets