union boys
werent ready

of course

the general was shot at once
the mississippi regulars
drove the bluebellies

off the cliff

they landed on the wounded
and sunk the boats

before he died,
the general said,
"one blast upon his bugle horn
were worth a thousand men"

in the summer,
a black carhartt
and long hair


the things we need,
water, a dimension
a cot, arms

raise red lantern,

it doesnt matter

if the master visits me

today, tomorrow

or never

all people
are a head
on the hydra

raise red lantern,
drain blue cup

one of the sick heads

forever sick,

raise red cup that poisons

force the rest to drink

never go into the woods

hoping to meet someone,

they'll be far out, wasted

or 'getting exercise'

never go anywhere

hoping to meet someone

i went to the top of the mountain

and took a nap

when a boring person

meets a curious person

only one of them is bored

i drive by places

where i would like to sit down

to see what was there

knowing well,

i would be bored

before the duck flew out

the duck is in the reeds

there are snakes living there

every night i dream of a duck

the duck doesnt read

it hates sunday

the duck once saw a waterskier

tangled in a family of water snakes

cafeteria

i ate ice cream
out of the dark bowl;
in my sleep,
i sweated furiously

she gives flowers
to them that smell bad

and fans herself
like shes swarmed by bugs

she taught me how
to use a sword

before the duel
she dips it in poison

she fights in the desert,
but i caught her lookin at me
in a church




"memory is an exquisite snowman, saying
i am made of the same stuff as the earth that bore me
a snowman is like a spermacetti candle
shedding tears of wax as it dies"

you bastards,
who stuck this crab
in my apple bunch

i cant pick a basket
without the skeets
taking what i earned

what i earned
god dammit


i moved my tent
closer to the woods
away from the pond

everywhere has too much meaning
if you take it in more than you should,
it could make you do rash things
in the name of the heart

here,
like every place,
where a war has been lost
is a cripple, and mean

it spends its days on the porch
shooting at stray dogs



when the cow died
i scooped it up
with the bulldozer

i drove on the road at sunset
and nobody followed behind

the cow was in the blade
its head hung loopy
like grampa's smile

its head looked down at the road
a plane was flying above us
and left a tiny puff trail


old earth,
its the flea bit dog in the space pack
it goes around the sun
it goes around the sun,
and its so damn old

the blue parts
are still healthy



when i took the cow to the hole
young boys had crowded around

they were acting simple
and crazy
their hats were backwards
also their pants

at first i was going to say

oh my god boys, get back
get the hell back

go home, take a bath
and beat the video game

but why shouldnt they watch?
i dropped the cow in the hole

then those boys
those naughty boys

they danced until
a small one
cried like a loon

as a young surfer,
i hated the french canadians

they showed up in vans
with boogie boards and flippers

my dream was bad
i rode the wave and fin sliced em
i told em to get the fuck
outta my way
with that fromagé

they kicked like guppies
in a warm bath

damn im a bad guy
damn what a bad guy

the only thing those boys had

to make the raft

were life jackets

lashed em together,

like those boys were the coaches

and they were the cheerleaders

it was night and they were drunk

the raft blew up and sent them

honking into the current;

those boys are some ducks

you can talk about the sweet river

when you stand knee deep

in a current that would gulp you down

if the water was a little deeper

the world isnt beautiful,

it doesn’t want to kill you

but if it does

it just hoots

and sways in the wind

my head knows a water moccasin

better than my feet do,

nothing wants me dead

i turn the pump on and off

and feel the water coming out,

no water can help me out but

only an idiots and sunken picnic trash

are unhappy, obscurely determined

they twitch while the water passes,

and it is unattractive to watch

my head is above the water,

but my moon is a mute child

whose mom and dad

locked it in a closet

its beautiful when those boys

swim to catch the moon,

blue feet bouncing on the riverbed,

laughing about a thing, they

essentially drown in the process

with life preservers bobbing everywhere

floating like a duck,

the moon bounces like a bug

floating downstream on its back

those boys hang onto

 the clots of trees, spluttering,

drooling indistinctly

i pictured a trailer of stallions

bouncing down a cliff

landing in the bogue chitto,

race horses

who cant think, don’t run

and chew cud at the riverbed

people are beautiful

when you’re beautiful

and those people

will demonstrate the world,

God will be there then,

In clear morning blue

With mild whisps of cloud

I waited for the farmers

To come out into the field

And find me naked in a tent,

if my knife was bigger

it would be a fair fight

there are things I have

that I cant imagine being gone

I send them downriver and

Then I bob like a blinking duck

My ducks are in a plastic bag,

heading towards the gulf

where the salt in the water 

will keep you afloat;

strange, being that the gulf

is mostly four feet deep

I know few poems of joy

Joy is a flying duck

That you cant shoot

The blue yodels are

Cheap plastic ducks

You can ride the bus

In dead summer heat

And pay for those ducks

With the leftover change

Nobody wants poems

Except for dollar general ducks

Who keep them

With their sadness

And the other rubbish

That those people own