Memorial

turn away
from broken branches
broken selves

a secret voice says (oh beautiful woman
on a pedestal breathing blue light):

an interior land of smooth stones

a field of running water
(an-other world) a-waits you

oh see, a sea-

blue light calls

disappointment comes to all 

species:

human drones, birds fly away, dogs die,
the elegance of murdered elephants
and bloody dolphins ritually
broken hearts all

DU fills the desert war!

so
tonight I shall nurse a wolf
ride a different horse
beyond the gate

children turn into raging

teenagers
leaving curly hair
holding our necks

a poisoned earth

my father hated my mother

yet they marched for peace

     and freedom

and drank from the negroes' only water
fountain

I was a seething teenager (too)

  (if only I could hold my parents now)
wrap my arms around their haifa
and paris
oh tour eiffel

oh it’s always too much of a

damn bother!

To be kind

To stay close

a german friend says:
don't be so broken
you're such a dreamer
be practical

of course she's right!
look at the germans
they're shutting down nuclear power
plants and putting up solar panels

hello memorial day

Bright Night

remembering the first time
we met    such
persistent stars

   sparkling close

into your eyes I entered

never again yet

   (except in
sleep entwined
   or dancing)

at first -- relief at goodbye

glad to say:
I need more than your
typewriter of fame

oh what could you
taste and sea?
(in your oh so busyness?)

not my black Iris's?
not my red child?
not my stone shore?
not my white geese?

what is this story
again and again:
oh dark, dark men

who die in my arms.

I lost my father young
flirtatious
charming
hurtful
zorba

tonight I am sad

oh dark, dark man

my father:
who saw his little saulie
fall from the window
onto the streets
of new york
who saw the crash
his father crash
who saw his older brother
die in the abraham lincoln brigade
who saw his little sister
electrified

my father of rages and fear

he loved me most (he said)
on his deathbed:
"you are my bright star"

oh sexy men of such charm

the wars you start
the lies you tell
the love you don't give