I Sing Arms & Demand

       (English variation on 'Ulises, Primer Arma')
--
silence falls far past
the southern lip of exile

cunning void of root & source
gives up no evidence, reflects
or bears no burden
but seedless planting in cultured ferment

--in troubled broken pounding
of the tidal rush
that hoards life-hardened sludge

to prop the selfsame exile up
beyond flight & futile yearning
--

Objective

--
home to fans
turning blasts of air
across the bright empty room

'call me ishmael'-- means old
dry meat gone stale in Cymmerian

bad joke. sorry

see, I'm hangin round
way past my expiration date

I've overstayed my welcome
from day one to be sure

was there a market-defined
shelf-life to my masculinity
-- my bachelorhood?
to my awkward poetics?

failure is letting Christian inflation
bill your dime-store Buddhism
ten bucks for a prayer flag
--

I Know The Distance

--
Love is no euphemism--
will not stand in for more
will not sit down to less

Love is no metaphor--
it will not bring home clarity
to show the way there

I know the distance
between my heart & my skin
I know the calendar
between my cry & my grin

I know the journey
(the gap & the fall)
between my head & my groin

Every nerve is a tightrope
I tremble & dance along
Every vein every artery
the net I fall upon
--

Ulises, Primer Arma

--
cae el silencio al extremo meridional del exilio

(la astucia no refleja un origen:

un cultivo sin semilla, un cuidado cultural

un embate accidentado
de corrientes que acumulan
sedimento de dura experiencia
que sostiene aquel exilio
que no es huída
ni ausencia)
--

Sin Ir, Recuperable

--
No recuerdo sueños
anteriores a la prisa
por encontrar el banquete

Si me incorporo transparente
he aprendido a conservar
mi silueta de lágrima

Perdido el límite y disuelto
el borde, mi encarnado aliento
se desolla y divaga descompuesto

Huésped ingrato del mercado
el canto rodado de mi pesadilla
cobija otra noche su yate varado
--

No es eterna si arde, ni viceversa

-- 
He aprendido hace tiempo ya
que no soy único ni singular--
entonces, ésta mi soledad
¿cómo difiere y de qué manera,
si alguna, sea la que sea--
de tanta soledad ajena?
--

Innocent Replay Test

--
tempted by hot spirits
seduced by any number
of holey distractions
to pierce my sight whole
I insist on honing all corners cut
folding the edges back
on collapsing shelters

I got names
I got titles
with essential questions
making marks out of vapor

look past my beard grown grey
see through the rags that fall away
to expose my speeding skin
scripted in alien wrinkles

time ticks? time flees
time antes up my itches
just a notch worse every day

every flight is a failed escape
bracing for abrupt, final rise of land
 --

Never Say Never Again

--

Forgot all that meant
anything to me

--forgot meaning

yet not managed
to forget me still

--

Estaciones sans Route

O saisons, ô châteaux,
Quelle âme est sans défauts?
-Arthur Rimbaud

sorda sed de sol
hambre muda de caricias

ciega omisión de senderos
para el sonámbulo

el río ha perdido los ojos

arrope mortal en las cuencas vacías

regando restos erguidos
que exhiben su acertijo
de lógica causa final
la lluvia bruja de mayo
resiste repartir encantos
por cosechar mano a mano
cada hechizo de noviembre

--