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-- word biscuit --
-- puppy of sappy spring edition --
05-02-97 -- ray heinrich
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a gentle day - and another - and then
grinding your dark beans
spreading
the scent of heaven
-Bosko (trans ray)
< chainless in the heights >
the water system
has broken down again
the first letter of spring
still hasn't arrived
your old poem says it's easier
to water trees outside your head
i wish i knew what you meant
i keep this picture of you
right inside the door
waiting for an answer
---
< quick and silver >
only the first light
finds you quick and silver
for me you are gone
all day afternoons in winter
i wait in shadowed light and
move slightly with frost or not
seeing faces like yours
at tables like mine
giving up food for your look
being stupid in many parts
trying to impress the air
where you used to stand
picture my place
picture your fresh thoughts
next to mine
in the time to come
picture nothing
you're not here
you're quick and silver
you're already in spring
---
< thin times >
slow rain
and you're drinking again
and i'm one kiss too short
of driving the miles
between baytown and beaumont
and the waiting outside
your parent's house
was easier
than this husband of yours
but here i am
even though i know
we're getting
into thin times again
- - -
< cornflower >
in the afternoon
there you are
i kiss you
and smell sweet alcohol
cornflower
you are the blue that you describe
my day is like you
and i am selfish
and i want more
cornflower
in the late afternoon
i kiss you
where
are your words for me?
where have you gone
while standing next to me?
leaving your warmth
leaving my wishes
following the trail of your sweet breath
- - -
< chicken and egg >
so which
did our ancient moms and dads make first?
gods?
or
poetry?
- - -
< the old gods >
the old gods
blot out the sun
we live always
in night
fed promises
but glad to have
at least words
to eat
what color would the sun be
if we
could see the sun?
the old gods
darker than clouds
allow their rain
to weep on us
and thirsty
we must drink
- - -
< 8 flower tales >
- 1 -
all winter
the spring
grew inside us
now
our mouths open
and flowers tumble out
- 2 -
the rush of sprouting
of shoots
pushing aside old leaves
of stems ascending
as the buds
inflate to airy flowers
- 3 -
the bees warn us
as the mouths of flowers
open wide to swallow us
but since it's spring
we jump
right in
- 4 -
wheels
their axles
through the ground
swerve over us
with the curve
of the sky
- 5 -
as the afternoon
advances
the petals add
determining
if you are loved
or not
- 6 -
the waste basket
holds
these yellow flowers
tears
you're not sure
who they're for
- 7 -
the roundness
of a face
above us
the pleasant sense
of color
that continues
- 8 -
after the steady
flowing
of years
the grace
of our hands
turns to flowers
- - -
< down by the run >
That large tree on Captain Hickory Run
that is 250 years old i imagine if i
count the rings and my dog is interested
in racoon shit and that wren that's
playing with him i think but he thinks
food and she thinks survival down by the
run water flowing always and us dog and i
always walking into something new every
day down by the run last week a dead deer
caught by his antlers bobbing with the flow
and preserved by the cold water so i wasn't
sure his clear eyes weren't staring up with
a patient expression but my dog knew and the
next day the deer was gone and until i told
you this no one knew down by the run sharp
briars are no match for my dogs fur or for
me having grown up in shorts on the gulf coast
this forest is so mild but i don't miss the
copperhead snakes and can always make something
up down by the run where in the winter the
houses that are not there in the summer appear
through the trees which i swear are dead but
will leaf in the spring down by the run.
- - -
< popcorn crows >
lucy is a jealous sprite
talking to me
in the forest
always asking questions
about you
and i
can usually
make something up
lucy says
five crows flew in this spring
by summer it was eight
then six
now five again
they always come
at ten in the morning
and again
around three or four
popcorn crows
she tells me
as she throws it out
- - -
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if you know someone (yourself too) who would like to get
word biscuit irregularly (of course it's free), just send
me an email saying something like yes.
you have my permission to copy and post this issue of word
biscuit so long as you obtain no commericial or barter
considerations in exchange for such copies, it's not part
of any pro-republican campaign literature, and you do the
whole damn thing including this stuff at the end or you
write to me and ask.
and all this is copyright 1996 & 1997 by ray heinrich
and the free state of dogs. comments are very welcome,
send to: ray@scribbledyne.com and i'm not wearing any pants.
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