The Stirring Daughter But I was bold, I sat in bed and drooled from out of my drooling head until another saw what I was doing And soon it came they spoke my name I heard it twice and it stayed the same, my lungs were coming undone from their gluing Iris rise up and take up your bed! Pick up your soiled pillow! Lift your lolling head! “A daughter's place is in the bed, in shutting up or playing dead. There's no more I can do by definition.” I tried to rise and struck the floor – and soon became a spastic whore – I laid there in my fluids, weakly grasping. It was only then that I knew when I first had given up and then I understood the scrape behind my raspings. I settled down, was covered up And don't think I'll be getting up Still I try to clot the atmosphere with laughter. But nothing but a stale trickle of breath as sodden as a pickle pushes, pulsing through my teeth to ever after. Iris rise up and take up your bed! Pick up your soiled pillow! Lift your lolling head! A daughter's place is in the bed, in shutting up or playing dead. There's no more I can do by definition.

The Jewels of Salome Clang and clink and chime and jingle! Topaz titters, garnets tinkle. The jangling jewels of Salome! A father loves his daughter. "For you, the moon and all its cinders! All of Hades' waters!" Clang and clink and chime and jingle! Bellies heave and sinews tingle. "Father father, is that all? Can you afford a kiss or laugh? The old man makes his daughter blush; how many halves can your kingdom have?" Moonstone, malachite, amethyst, moldavite, A bed of thatch and fattening fleas, a headboard of hematite. Clang and clink and chime and jingle! Topaz titters, garnets tinkle. The jangling jewels of Salome! A father loves his daughter. "For you the hides of all my sons, My darling dancing daughter!" Clang and clink and chime and jingle! Bellies heave and sinews tingle. "Father father, kingdoms wane Jewels can only clatter, But bring me something I can kiss forever! Bring him on a platter." Moonstone, malachite, amethyst, moldavite, A bed of thatch and fattening fleas, a headboard of hematite. Clang and clink and chime and jingle! Topaz titters, garnets tinkle.

The Devil's Pallbearers The white oak stretched as it climbed up through balmy heaven's crypt The old rain peeled our faces back; we licked our dirtied lips. Gone is he who suckled us, whose udders filled our pails. Who can call the devil now to drag his hairy tail? We raised the pine box shoulder high, the soot clung to our thighs. We couldn't tell our tears from rain and filth was in our eyes. The devil was so poor and bent - he limped and scratched his way and now he barely fills the box that we have borne away. Gone is he who suckled us, whose udders filled our pails. Who can call the devil now to drag his hairy tail? And here we climb the final ridge above the gorge and vale To bring the lonely body back to where his father hides his grail. Gone forever! Gone and gone. With tears I fill my pail. Who can call the devil now to drag his hairy tail?

The Lazarus Men The coughing rain forgot its name, the sun grew scared to burn And fire went out upon a world that hung in space as if to turn. The factories like shattered clocks could move no more with time And every lung in every chest was pierced against the spine. To speak the name of Lazarus! To till into the barren moon.... Who has called the Lazarus men so late, when earth lies breathless? Why raise them up when all is gone? Why make them both so deathless? It was then two men, two Lazarus men came riding from the poles Upon two beasts of vulgar cast In search of errant souls. The coughing rain forgot its name, the sun grew scared to burn And fire went out upon a world that hung in space as if to turn. Who has called the Lazarus men so late, when earth lies breathless? Why raise them up when all is gone? Why make them both so deathless? To speak the name of Lazarus! To till into the barren moon....

The Owl Duke The Owl Duke fell upon a rodent dressed in mange and mire. The mouse was only pennies high; the Owl Duke flapped like fire! The rodent raised its slender voice in speech he hoped that all fowl knew and taunted him, that stately duke! with words he hoped were true. "Ho thief! With all your steely toes you take the lives of many! You rend the rat and mole and split the skunk, the frog, and jenny." "And you may take this mammal's meat whole or haunch by haunch, but you're too weak to take us all all gathered in a bunch." The Owl Duke smiled upon the rodent, "You're no mean or common vermin! Most would plead to stay my claws but you prefer this sermon." "I didn't come to this renown by birth or noble blows, but crept the shadows tearing faces from the bones of sleeping foes" "I nearly love you for your words And have already ate, but I didn't become the Duke of Owls by chasing morsels from my plate." "Ho thief! With all your steely toes you take the lives of many You rend the rat and mole and split the skunk, the frog, and jenny." "I'll rest with rats that came before inside your feathered chest, but when you die our bones will meet and rot inside your dirty nest."

Omega Lady She scrawled an omega across her brow and vowed to give it meaning, then walked until she met the dog that haunts the sea of seeming. "A day ago I took some lampblack Placed this letter on my face. Can you guess its silver essence Give it time or give it place?" It answered, "No one here can know before they've known decaying." "Here tongues cannot convey their sense all words are braying" - She pressed her toes an hour's trot away from the salt and sail. She happened on some eager children eating from a patch of snails. "A day ago I took some lampblack Placed this letter on my face. Can you guess its silver essence Give it time or give it place?" They answered, "No one here can know before they've known decaying Here tongues cannot convey their sense all words are braying" - She wandered to a wooden church and opened both its doors; Inside before a silver monstrance a man of cloth crept on his fours. "A day ago I took some lampblack Placed this letter on my face. Can you guess its silver essence Give it time or give it place?" He answered, "No one here can know before they've known decaying Here tongues cannot convey their sense all words are braying" - She ran until she saw a mound with stones propped at its crest. And realized now how weak she'd grown as she fell upon her breast. "A day ago I took some lampblack Placed this letter on my face. "I do not think it has an essence nor a time and not a place." "Let nothing answer, nothing come and nothing speak again." She spoke, too stiff to feel the rain that washed the lampblack from her skin.

Alien Bee The day had yellowed with despair and murky clouds of pollen Her noise -- a thousand buzzards' voice! Her hind sacs filled till swollen! Alien Bee, The honey from the sky! Alien Bee, The hive outside of time! She choked the air with allergens; Full half the earth died rasping! And champed her twitching mandibles at our excited gasping. The world beyond is combed with drones who chew and spit their wax. Out from the afterlife of space She tests her sting against our backs. Alien Bee, The honey from the sky! Alien Bee, The hive outside of time!

Tiresias in Love Take my eyes or all my years! Take away my tongue! Just let me split the entwined serpents I split when I was young. I knew a man when I was a man, I knew a woman too, and while a woman knew them both one was nectar, one was dew. Dew can wet a thirsty tongue dry and cracked with fissures, while nectar burns the self alive with pulsing deathless pleasures. Take my eyes or all my years! Take away my tongue! Just let me split the entwined serpents I split when I was young. Today the eagle tore the pidgeon from flight. I know this omen! Even so, I loved the best when I loved as a woman. So frost my pupils to my lids -- I'm sure you gods need sight. But give these dry breasts life again Oh, pity! Pity this poor wight! I need to feel it all again! Those seven years weren't long. Afterwards, my loins went weak as my prophetic arts grew strong. Tiresias In Love Tiresias In Love I knew a man when I was a man I knew a woman too. And I am old. And I'm a fool. Who trades nectar for the dew? Tiresias In Love Tiresias In Love Tiresias In Love Tiresias In Love

The Blessed Child When you look toward the moon if at night or if at noon High up in its lovely place, Behold the blessed child's face! The angel put the child away inside the furnace every day and tinkled with her brazen thimbles till the child was bronze as cymbal. She took its bones to build a cradle from a hole above its navel. She sang to pass the slowing time and stuffed the child with myrrh and thyme. So when you look toward the moon If at night or if at noon High up in its lovely place, Behold the blessed child's face! She forged two ornamental eyes to make the child seem bright and wise and licked its face until it shone Bright as heaven's burnished throne. The angel put the child away inside the furnace every day and tinkled with her brazen thimbles till the child was bronze as cymbal. So when you look toward the moon If at night or if at noon High up in its lovely place, Behold the blessed child's face!