BY THE LIGHT

By the light of another dawn I find you
walking toward me from end of Ward Avenue
seems we are closer than ever
since I can even see the shadow hair makes 
caught in your mouth
I want to touch it-- your mouth; 
the hair-- to pull it out,
I want to hold fingers against your cool cheek
stubble like sand in the morning

The horse hooves have dug tiny caves in the beach
for likewise tiny plovers
My God! Nothing could be so utterly
perfect 
as a tiny bird, hiding
in places smashed in
by giant feet

When the light changes season I will fly to you
Like a plover
over watery miles 
the ranges of sea
watching the sky in the water for the first shadow
sign
how I ache to reach you 
my dust to your dust
to hide me

in the heat of your body

Crab Feed

Narrow hips let me slip
through tight aisles, tongs aloft
crab held high in my wooden bucket
Another claw? Another half body?
91 Chinese millionaires waving their chopsticks
and shouting at each other over newspapered tables
greased with mayonnaise and coleslaw, cheeks reddening
with each new glow of McCallum 15. Now we're on 
the 12, and still pouring the 75th Chardonnay, 
and xie xie, baby, Happy New Year
the cameras are out and the volume increasing-- 
it seems to be doing the trick

later in the bath
in the quiet room
I will sup
steam, and laugh
softly,
surrounded by your love
the way the warm water
covers my chest.

What You Get When You Eat Meaning

To write is to get to the bone of the matter
beyond the fat beyond the tissue.
Not to put the words to the thing.
Words are just the waste product.
What you get when you eat meaning.

Nest

Young 
softer than snail
grease of feathers
sight as feel 

Sleep
heart whirring
against the mud wall
bed you made with your body

Flight alas seems down
only
from up here
where our noses
meet, this room
of your breath

Please don't let me
fall 
til I have wings.

Gift

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end"

Mostly the sun-

seared  pink, horizon

Mostly the pan 

of Eucalyptus curved over the road

My upside-down sweetness,

My life for death

Cubierto, Amante,

My Bower

My Lord.