My Shadow is a Cat

The Firebird

2010-07-21T15:44:00.003-04:00

In music class the story forms a world of notes
the children listen
in their seats, a herd
of spotted fauns pausing in the forest
hanging from the tree
is the metal fruit, a weathered cage
that contains a golden bird

it sings

and everyone becomes aware that they are made of three
and in unending transformation

they dance until they die
of exhaustion
a death that breaks enchantment
but what is life without enchantment

the dance that is infernal is the most divine

Tiger Dream

2009-07-15T20:23:00.021-04:00

she wonders why she was abandoned

to the deadly chimeras

she expires

the Bengal Tiger with the tail
of a Burmese Python

the Harpy Eagle with the head
of a faceless woman

lying
in the stupor of the Predator
trails of smoke and weather
billow in her breath

they coalesce

somewhere in the vapor of the tortured forms
is the answer

but she cannot find it

she fills her pipe and lights a match
she breathes the monsters into clouds
she licks her lips and savors ash

the taste of violence she inspires

The Grand Etude of the Feast of the Feline Odalisques

2009-04-26T16:35:00.024-04:00

the grand etude of Odalisques

is a tune of twins – of cats who live in Turkish harems

and is composed of style and fashion:

the eyes that watch in belts and feathers

the lashes that flap in folds and drapes

the slaves of stares stitched in patterns

in the fabric of the dark and weighted sheets

of the peacocks they devoured

in the service of the Sultan’s favored concubines

they whisper rumors of the Sultan they may never see

the ever changing man who is always watching them

Owl Dream

2008-12-26T03:33:00.006-05:00

It is a winter story and Snow White
is an owl
haloed in blue before the waxing
gibbous moon
floating over the frozen lake
the only sound
is the who and scythe of passing shadow
of a question hung in wind and wings.

A hail of mouse heads begins to fall…
a dream
of the first Christmas tree,
never severed from the earth,
garlanded in seven dead friends:
in Snake and Frog and Mouse,
in Rabbit and Rat, in Bird and Fish –
downy pellets of excrement dress the bottom,
and you are perched like a dread angel
or turning star at the top.

anchor

2008-12-04T01:00:00.006-05:00

each night he constricts
a certain sorrow
that reaches down
past his knees
curls around
a calf
to shackle
an ankle
and burrows into
the earth
an anchor
that hardens
with each image
that passes -
a pulsing
of light

the distant
knowledge
of objects
that move
through him

A Soldier in the Army of Rose-Eaters

2008-11-08T15:47:00.034-05:00

always in the company
of the army
you married me
because I came to you
unmade

in lieu of a ring
I gave you
a tiny black box
tied with pink
silk ribbon

the gift of my voice

I told you
all my tattoos are sub-dermal
I am a soldier in the army
of rose eaters
I am trapped in the body
of a dinosaur
free me

only because I asked
did you make my mouth
a basket for flowers
so people would not fear me

but then I could never say your name…

skipping along with my head in your hands
pulling flowers from my mouth
you sang
the army of rose-eaters
is marching

follow me

Dirt Poor

2008-10-28T03:33:00.005-04:00

cupping the hands of liars

ancestors gather

at the same age

when they are dead

and once were fathers

all of it took residence

in the face

Kitchen Olympics

2008-10-15T03:37:00.004-04:00

broomstick
curtain rod
javelin
coffee mug
shot put
discus
dinner plate
toxic
aerosol
anger

sprinting
without
breathing

a coach
who yells
in every
mirror

the butane torch
that is always lit
in the endless games
of self
destruction

The Feline Colossus Guards the Door

2008-09-29T04:12:00.002-04:00

the cat sparkles
like a tiny god
by the door
that is opening

lying on the floating
bed you consider
the long drop
to the floor

and the walk
that will shrink
your body
to the size
of an eye

by the feline colossus
along the ancient
trade route of ants

you hesitate
before the light
of the bright carpet

and then it is closed

everything is as it was
once before

Djinn

2008-09-15T23:11:00.001-04:00

a heart inside the brain
that is
a frog turned into stone

a tongue that’s used
for cutting things

a house inside a bottle
to call your home

The Bird Cage

2008-09-08T23:11:00.003-04:00

there were two birds
in the cage, perched
on the swing together
one brightly feathered
one with long coarse fur

Marriage of the Honey Bee to the Tree

2008-09-01T15:33:00.012-04:00

for our friend Hisae Maeda.

before the first

there was the third

form of thunder

it did not arise

from a jagged line

but from a furred

point

a rumbling hum that shuddered

pollen from velvet

petals

and covered in gold

wrote the secret

heart of tree

in wax and paper

labyrinth

the Queen

the Queen is only One of We

who knows

the sacred lambent

amber art of bee

Honey

Oracle of the Throat

2008-08-25T19:33:00.001-04:00

She has an orphic goiter
and a mouse
tied to her wrist
with dental floss.

Pressing two fingers
to her carotid prune
she prophesied
what he already knew
but wanted to hear
from another person
she said,
“you know,”
and then she left him
in the forest
that was once
a sewer.

Sometimes he thinks
he can feel
her voice
reaching inside him,
his throat burning
like an oil fire
deep inside
an abandoned mine.

He dreams of meeting
this woman
that has never been
apart from him,
he dreams there will be
an end
to prophesy
when he awakens.

Amazed by the Night

2008-08-18T19:33:00.006-04:00

the bowl of stars

filled them all

with awe

and myth

they were centaurs

and satyrs

no longer lost

in the forest

they dreamed

of floating

on the ocean

or flying

in space –

their tongues

could taste

words

they circled the blaze

beating the drums

of their red chests

someone started to tell

a story

in the fire light

their eyes shined

like teeth

what they ate

was everything

My Shadow is a Cat

2008-08-11T07:33:00.003-04:00

In the bright crisis
the cat goes where
we once were,
she seeks to sit
where I sat,
to rest in shadow
that is warm and forgotten.
She is my statue
and I am her
statue too.
She says she will
follow me
and my eyes
are only meat.

We wonder who
will go first.

Who will walk
alone?

Who will leave
the mouse's organs
at the mouth of
the little door?

Hula-Hoop from Hell

2008-08-04T19:33:00.001-04:00

Don’t ever touch
the plastic rabbit
flat like a cross
over her bed.

Don’t ever tell her
her teeth are chalk,
when she sleeps
she screeches words
backwards
on the blackboard
of her hell.

Don’t ever trust
the advice of others,
close the bubble,
throw the dice instead.

Little sister,
who never steps
outside the ring
of her pet demon’s
hula-hoop – I fear
I will never see you
growing again.

doG

2008-07-28T19:33:00.001-04:00

follow the dog
under the bed
into the hole
in the wall

crawl

there is a room
where all the lost things are
and nothing is paired

there is a mound
of socks that sinks
as you climb it

in each soft sleeve
you sense a hardness
a tiny stone

but you are wrong
they each contain
a little toe

The Smiling Spiders

2008-07-21T19:33:00.001-04:00

outside the world
he sleeps inside
a boulder

that is hollow
like a womb
but cold

with gray light
falling and silver
silk lines

the orange light
of spider eyes
is only one

of many colors
wrapped in gray
cotton fur

they make their way
to his sleeping mouth
trembling

they step inside

The Question Mark

2008-07-14T19:33:00.005-04:00

Someone leads me

through my memories

through the hundred

drifting buildings.

On each door

the angel of forgetting

has left a question mark

in pink blood

to guide the elderly.

Through the parted door I see –

the querulous curve

of the cat’s tail

the dot of the puckered

star

the furred beckoning finger

I leave my body in its bed

and take my clues:

a walking stick in the shape

of a pink flamingo,

a question mark

where an angel bit

my upper arm…

I am the puzzles hung on each wall.

Nothing is ever

where I left it.

A glistening red

dentist chair

where there are no answers.

Someone leaves me there.