sugarchile

i.

pollen catches on

a breeze and carries it self

cross the plain to seed

with rows of grain as smoke

extends up into night\whose

dark provides no shelter from

the windsome distant voice

who carried flame. still echoes

off stonewall. later we rest

up on a log along the coast.

j. wolves tore their city & they hunted down the wolves until there were none.

i.m told of distant lives across the stars

but here the men speak most of death

and dying. we came up on a village thick

with corpses by the scent. i bid my kin

take leave and built a camp out in the

woods. a multitude began to gather. void

ing my self: i crept back to the flame. we

slept each night. the bears re turned. i

dreamt of creatures in the wood. savage

beasts who killed / now held by cage.

the one had slain a girl.

 

k.

fat red bodied fish

sang at the stream. i plucked and

knifed them throat to gut.

 

tho they slept: thru night i stood watch

think ing i had heard some shadow. still

when they a woke un seen i saw them

speak their hunger. waited / weighted.

they slept again. til then i tried to set them

free. each spoke in turn and once more

was re leased.

h

behold the one who

pulled a creature out from stone.

we sing in wonder.

…

the featherless dog or feather

less old man passing along a

great river: floated upon timber

while a pygmie tribe carried an

altar ? slid on rough hewn granite

traveling a burden greater than

the weight of any man in girth

and size. we studied on their

journey how they lashed the rock

to forest branches / dragged it all

along. we heard of places where

the many families dwelt together

and once high up on a hillside we

encountered several others knelt

onto the ground: arms raised into

the heavens / seemed to never hear

us pass. we dreamt of carnage.

distant people starving by the

hundreds with a plenty shared

among the few. on waking: outcry.

near by stirred a great new beast.

we gathered up our young / seeking

new pastures on the mountain side.

a headress woven tight with ore and

minerals begat those heights of

passion reminiscent of a birthing.

there we did not linger on. each day

our son grows stronger with the care

ful eye his mother knows well. loving

as i could not love myself our clan

swells with the rising tide.

B0X

g

one mother reached thru

flame to lift her child away

refusing to burn

…

and if you can.t walk then

dance among the pines with

spine and lung. when chaos

brings collapse in order for

our balance to maintain / we

sing and those who will not

speak may hum a long

with life it self. our rhythm is

the beating of her heart.

survival was the art up on a

rival of a winter.s dark.

we bury our selves til we can

not bear it any more. the heat

we make foretold in flint and

stone. whet stone to flint. and

kindling which killing flesh

might heal a blade. we gather

that we need yet mourn no off

ering beside. no path except for

that which trails behind. in

time: sweet nectars become

bitter. still their comfort can

we find. one stranger we could

hardly recognize revealed him

self my mother.s child. we

gathered by a flame for many

hours til we tired. i held its

smoke within as he departed

from my eyes.

…

this forest hallowed

hour. her tree strong as mother.s

spine. we slept inside.

f

we spoke with jungle

birds among the canopy

joining them in song

…

if ever a tree falls we know her loss.

in honor of sacrifice: built for the re

birth while sharing tales of past

walks recalled. our memory is life.

the butterfly beyond cocoon. we kno

where we have been and send our

message for word thru the drum.

some men would seize a tool and

then refuse to aid / i count my

brother.s blessing as my own

and when if ever causing injury

will try to bind the wound. for we

are anybody we have met / tho

some refuse to see ? you drank

the water falling from a stone

and taught me where to place

my lips upon the source of spring

to heal and what to leave behind

or when to bury what may serve

us best another day. while here i

bind my hand to find her wounded

paw and hear a string plucked draw

ing us together for this instrument

our world. she pollen ates my

thoughts and like the bee accepts

one hand within her honey comb.

my queen provides. so anyone near

threatening our hive will learn

the sting and venom of disrupted

harmony. i will not live outside her

mind and wouldn.t hesitate if to re

mind her why i stay close by.

…

greed becomes the snake

devoured by and lost with

in it self consumed

e

i watched a man stare

far into the sun. until he

never saw again.

…

when we first sighted snow

his voice was clear and

crystalline. we almost thought

to end our journey there within

the mouth of god. i taught my

son which fruits to trust and

then to navigate the land

among these creatures great

and small. he babbled on

with all along a brook. and

where he fell his sister helped

him stand on mountain caves

and quiet boulders. we sought

shelter from the elements

with/in her signature up on

a wall. no other evidence. we

fast across the desert tho

we feasted at a banquet in

the swamp. our daughter found

awe. while admiring some

pelicans gathered reverantly on

the altar of a fallen wood

we spoke softly upon the one

who taught us why and how

to burn.

…

once a boy swam by

that shore against his tide and

dropped among the stones.

i dreamt we were two suns following each other thru unending night

d.

she asked me for a story

so i told her of our father

truths too numerous to lie.

 

with fewer words

we spoke them all.

 

along this journey

kneeling by a spring

reflecting on the sky

 

without ambition

beyond warmth.

 

some call this love or fire.

 

how could i slay my

friend to gain a meal.

 

knowledge became survival.

 

we are water and

you taught me well.

 

i left her only as blood

from the heart. and to

return as winter turns

to spring. the way a tree

might leave as shelter

for some bird in song.

the time traveler forgets his past as he enters a new future [0-c]

the first words were hardest. i want

ed to whole you so you would half m

y self. give us more to go by. no one

ever told me we wouldn.t remember

? where we came from . . . wouldn.t

care when we were go ing. back

then everyplace was home. finding

language to describe how she split

momentary order from this chaos:

imagination or magic bringing our

world into perspective like sun set

over cliffside. i recall falling infinite

ly toward name less seawater. eyes

to a night so bright we never

bothered questioning god while

them angels were singing. why

would any body want to be original

but to live for ever. i spend time

with my child most often in thanks

that she made me again after all

these years. we didn.t start

counting the seconds until war

arrived.

 

we laid up hanging

out among red wood branches

at the hour of dawn

 

sleeping. we dreamed of each

other and upon waking i would

pull you into me once more.

meals of legumes walnuts and

berries. days we passed by the

ocean. knowing no greater joy

than feeding her as we grew

to gether. all told we played

this way forever. where shall

we live today. with out

possession we lost nothing.

tho i give my self a way.

at most those stars were list

ening so we told stories of

the past. before it all be came

so far away.

 

walking, i spied a

stick, she found her rock. and so

we kept rolling on.

 

as our sun warmed us

lighthawk taught us there could be

no land before time.

 

see the moon was always

coming to visit and we held

out all that we had to offer.

she would guide us as our

doula through your birthing

then we feasted on the caul

when it was over. toasting

our new beginning. i couldn.t

find a book on how to love

my daughter well. some

fathers had been swallowed

by the beast they never

thought to tame. we raised

their children also. and they

kept their mother.s name. we

were all of us family. standing

out of the rain to witness light

ning for the first time. there

was no word for heaven. so

we laughed.

 

i dreamt we were two

suns following each other

thru unending night

samul.