Grey Victory


there was light and atomic fission
swelling wind
rising ash
tide of black rain
cement seared shawdow traces
reminiscent of their last commands

instantly one thousand flames arising
ill scent the burning hides surrounding
a settlement debased entirely
enola gay had made a casual delivery

please build a future, darling
with our bomb
cherish and love it
for the sake of
earth bound kingdom come

the undersides of fallen metal trusses
evil debris of human bodies
each window's glass shards pelted
secure confines
brittle collapse

neighbors lay beside
each other unknowing
faces scorched of all familiar bearing
too few hands
many wounds for closing
marred by
thirsting
anguish
fear lamenting

here we stand
at the door to gold atomic age
don't spoil your face with worry
trust in
earth bound kingdom come

10 000 Maniacs Index

Pour De Chirico


oh my dear friend
my dear friend giorgio
how has this time breton
discouraged your liaison with the
eye styled metaphysical
incongruous scenarios
dauntly jaunt about through nostalgic despair
within childlike renderings
of a nightmarish recall
"all my images
fragments i've shored upon my ruins
pictor classicus sum
i am pure"

step solemn with the
air of reluctant manes
as rod and hoop shadow children
scatter through a henna arcade
figures indentured to a windless landscape
enduring silence and flame

da
da da
no loyalty to the nonsensical
scorned their nihilist pageantry

10 000 Maniacs Index

Death Of Manolete


there were women holding rosaries
on the day manolete died
teenage girls in soft white dresses
standing silent peace respecting
groups of boys held in their hands
the fragments of a shattered idol
the old men with their traditions challenged
refrained from tears

neck neck hook
poles of wood
the picadores stood eyes ablaze
to view brutal contest
in the vale of years

courage unfailing
agility exhausted
youth entered challenge
reached for title shelved

patrons in attendance
to disarm a common myth
homage played to the victor of immortality
cloaked in bold tones

in the stockyard the beasts
did climb their barriers
bid by a frenzied ring

bred for one purpose only
to die in man's sport
dash against his spindle

an instant fell to wounding
on the day
swords penetrating
on the day
torches igniting
on the day
flower wreaths encircling
the day
on the day

10 000 Maniacs Index

Tension


frail hinges pivot
on a case's door
commemorative
souvenirs from places
containers change with occasion

cellophane encased
displaying paper
certificate
credit years of service
a tool of central enterprises

the early hope
for permanence
the words the rings
consistency
and social security
the miracles high tragedy

a thought mistaken for a memory
dress lengths assassinations
fractured family ties and christenings

local posts will list your friends
in order of disappearance
lawn scattered tins feed birds
the portion baked
for absent guests

the mass edition icon
god sent comfort
your salvation
but who grants absolution
for sins that never were committed

tension makes a tangle
of each thought becomes
inconvenience
sound never penetrates
the servile edges break and faint

a thought mistaken for a memory
clear the dust
from smiles in boxes
pass the patterned wall
recall their voices

10 000 Maniacs Index

Daktari


like a weasel in the clover
you tilt toss pop turn over
sit down!
tremble and weave like a moth
by flame deceived
sit down!
spill with your words caught up
dance in your room
slide like you're buttered up
roll back the tomb
sit down!

bolt scuff jilt chase circle riddle
shake in haste
sit down!

when the thunderclouds sound
ants scatter to high ground

10 000 Maniacs Index

Pit Viper


in the cruel garrison of affection
if worth of lore is true
you know the face of a temptress
pit viper

a witch or enchantress
pit viper

with the malign venom of conceit
she tries
civil men
conceal fear
misgivings
when night entreats them
a greater chill sustains
stains her
darkness
shall not inhibit death blow

know this skin does not restrict her
tear and shed the coil
fall of garland leaves
below the soil

10 000 Maniacs Index

Katrina's Fair


greta's cedar hope chest
is full of pamphlets
glass shelves of romantic vignettes
a journal laced with sedimentary prose

norma gathers and collects vintage photoplays
hair combs valentines

lillian allows the animals to scratch
leather crack
mail collect in the box coatings peel

agnes veiled cathedral dweller
smiles with benevolent pain
it's katrina's fair tuesday morning
as she with caution unlatches the flat door
she alone cascades to the basement
careful not to spoil her
calico printed pinafore
composite traits mannerists
all others dissipate

margauritte vigilant dwells upon frigid casements

sarah's thoughts in the velocity
accusations always pierce and pass

clara abandons her passions for distastes
miss lenora p. sinclair
early for coffee in the pool
"i'm resituating all your words"
capital
space
colon
paragraph

sylvia keeps beasts in jars labeled
kingdom phylum class order family genus species

10 000 Maniacs Index

The Latin One


bent double like old beggars in sacks
knockkneed and cursing or coughing like hags
men marched on sleeping some without boots
fatigue drunken deaf still to the hoots
of breaking gas shells
dropping softly behind
but limped on bloodshod
all went lame all went blind

gas gas quick boys fumbling helmets in time
someone still screaming a man in fire or lime
under a grey cloud dim dark through green light
in all my dreaming before my helpless sight
he plunges at me
choking guttering drowning
put in a wagon he had to keep pace
as his eyes melt to his face

if you could hear blood
gurgling from ruptured lungs
if you could witness
vile sores on innocent tongues
you would not tell me
not with such pride and such zest
the lies of history
dulce et decorum est
pro patria mori
some desperate glory
pro patria mori
as witness disturbs the story
pro patria mori
stand firm boys breathe the glory

10 000 Maniacs Index

National Education Week


honor salute and speak
to the corner standing flag
do you remember how the days of school were
indivisible separate worlds
compare contrast
these dreams absurd
placid classroom faces
breathe in the features
of a demographics death map trilogy
children read them well
not to bury 3 of 4 sons
as the likes of chivalry
not to take 6 of 30 bills
to manufacture corpus christi
and so you think it can be so serene
history's most intolerable famine
has clutched our global tranquility
reaped the lives of children
maladies collaborate
with cyclic despair
infanticide clamors to 20 times more
in 4th and 5th Worlds
the poor have always been
beside us
amid us
death has always been
as million cease 15 million that's an annual reap
add divide multiply sum 41 thousand!

10 000 Maniacs Index

My Mother The War


she borders the pavement
flanks avenues
parades pass white glove attended by
my mother the war

she'll raise a shaft
lift a banner
toss a rose
my mother the war

she's made every effort
to salvage the few
bought fourteen liberty bonds
my mother the war

mother the war

she knows every neighbor
chats at their doors
compare econosize electric appliances
my mother the war

share tea and a seat
by my cradle with
my mother the war

mother the war

caressing the globe
touch on his isle
she wrings hands in pensive waiting
my mother the war

haunts her doorway
begs her postman
is there word for
my mother the war

momentos of distant vigil
three years each tour
"hands of god enfold him" prayed
my mother the war

mother the war

in bitter defiance
she's spitting the corps
she's wet a brood short league for combat
my mother the war

well acquainted with sorrow
left millions in grief
my mother the war

fold
laced
carrion
blood
soaked
robes

mother the war

10 000 Maniacs Index