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-- word biscuit --
-- that and a few trees edition --
-- ray heinrich --
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well, irregular it is then
-ray
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< just moved to texas >
lots of republicans
they're mostly the stupid kind
so
i can mostly forgive them
but the rich ones...
i will never forgive them
though
to the best of my knowledge
i've never killed one in a completely premeditated fashion
but
other than that
things are just fine
- - -
< 1111 heights avenue >
and there you are
again
looking out
some sort of sunset
formed from an old lamp
tipped against a wall
waiting to be painted
a door
having an arched top
old house in houston
the wood stairs
sneaking in at night
every step creaking
bathtub with feet
half-filled
you
slipping under the water to rinse your hair
bed as mattress on floor
drugs hidden underneath
night
streetlights through windows
cats
coming through the secret hole in the wall
fourteen foot ceilings
even in the six by eight bathroom
orange paint
yellow paint
not even half done
gravel driveway
crunches as we walk
- - -
< same place >
it's the tree that was struck by lightning
up towards the top
it's healed pretty well
late afternoon light
deep yellow
almost orange
it's summer
gulf coast
it got up to 95 today
but now it's around 85
it cooled off fast
there's a nice breeze
you can see the leaves, branches move
just enough to make the light ripple
standing in my back yard
(actually it's my mom's)
i've stood in this same place
since i was four
it's the same tree
the same light
coming over the garage
moving up the trunk
soon it's just the top
there's a nice breeze
you can see the leaves, branches move
just enough to make the light ripple
- - -
< oh you always >
begin talking
telling me secrets when i can't hear you
so i fill them in
those secrets
fill them with whatever i want
say them
where you can't hear me
- - -
< remembered from dreams >
my feet
flying above the kites
and you down there
flying them
a dream remembered
remembered in a dream
so which of us needs to wake up?
and which way
should we wake up?
if we can
or maybe
we need to wake up twice
or maybe
life
is a dream
which means
we really don't want to wake up
- - -
< today on the road >
i'm walking the dog near my house and he starts pulling on his leash
there's something in the road ahead
we get closer
it's a squirrel
struggling
on her side
bleeding
back broken
screaming
looking at me
front legs moving
rear ones paralyzed
she's screaming like a baby
i run back to the house and get my car
drive it up to her
get her head
lined up with the tire
i do it as fast as i can
the tire
her body
jerking under it
dead
but her legs
still jerking
still trying to run
five seconds
then quiet
i pick her up
leaving a circle on the pavement
two inches
perfectly round
bright red
and take her into the forest
and lay her down under a good-sized tree
- - -
< consider the trees >
their leaves
just out
the sun
(as it looses its winter slant)
shines through them
a light green
luminous
and close
the veins
the flow of blood from roots
deep in the earth
- - -
< and those roots >
it's dark down there
but
the roots known
they read their messages:
To: Rootboy
Subject: My present
The sun is hot today, but nothing I can't handle.
Hope you got my present.
Hope you like it.
My finest new syrup.
Fresh this spring.
Regards,
Flutterbaby
P.S. Thanks for the water.
- - -
< you and me and us tree >
bark tree
trunk tree
squirrel tree
my tree
your tree
our tree
tree tree
arms to put around tree
vine to wind around tree
leaves all in the wind tree
lying underneath tree
vying for the heights tree
going to save the earth tree
returning to the earth tree
roots to topmost leaf tree
shading from the sun tree
wading in the earth tree
fading with the fall tree
planted with a spade tree
underneath they played tree
only god can make tree
you and me and us tree
dwelling in the roots tree
early leaves in spring tree
green up from the ground tree
red and yellow-orange tree
brown and then a bare tree
snow on branches black tree
silhouetted in the sun tree
nuts that drop on us tree
bending over lake tree
climbing up the trunk tree
jumping off the branch tree
landing on the earth tree
you and me and we tree
falling to the ground tree
seedlings from the earth tree
many more of them tree
all of us look up tree
bending in the wind tree
fucking in the night tree
oh my god it's us tree
birds lined up on branch tree
falling on a house tree
really will and must tree
buried in the dust tree
just you and me and us tree
- - -
< and some day >
i will be like this
drifting
over sweet quantities
over leaf and twig and stem
falling
while looking up
glades and narrows
never thinking of the water
the currents below
ripples hiding whirls that bend and twist
just looking up
to glint and bright and crisp
- - -
< like bread >
walking my dog
hot
97 or something
waves
coming off the road
mirage
tiny
all this
and death too
but the thought passes
and the grass
baking
gives off its scent
like bread
- - -
< seven years later >
water lily
yellow blossom
bright in the sun
just one
pressed up from the water
mirror
ripples
and a frog
(just imagined)
mouth wide
waiting for a fly
- - -
< the price you pay for trees >
leaves
leaves
and more leaves
the price you pay for trees
that
and the occasional branch dent in your car roof
and maybe the possibility
that as you are sleeping peacefully some night
one of them will fall into your bedroom
and cut you in half
increasing somewhat
the price you pay for trees
- - -
< a celebration of february 21 2008 >
fed the dog and the cats this morning
took my pills and ate breakfast
took the dog for a walk
he peed on his favorite tree
he crossed his favorite field
(baseball mostly)
i found a chain that dropped off some pick-up truck
probably the same one that dug ruts in round circles
left strips of turf
clean cuts
put most of them back
imagined the mower
catching up the chain
cutting the links
driving them into the hearts of passers-by
me
my dog
i dragged it to the side
steel
pulled it to the side of the road
continued our walk
pleasant
a few clouds
the next day
i pulled it along the road
daylight ghost
rust
rubbing on the asphalt
hot
coiled it on my driveway
it's still there
- - -
____________________________________________________________
- legal notes - bio - copyright -
legal notes:
anyone capable of reading this has my permission
to publish any individual poem or poems contained
within this edition so long as you obtain no commercial
or barter considerations in exchange for such copies,
it's not part of any pro-republican campaign literature,
and you do it within two years of its original publication
date. anything else requires my permission which probably
can be obtained (depending on the mood i'm in) by writing
to me at: ray@wordbiscuit.com -- and yes, i love it every
time someone is amused enough to make copies and send them
to friends, pass them out on street corners, read them in
coffeehouses, or wrap them around a good, honest fish.
stock bio:
ray heinrich is a texas technofreak and hippie-socialist
wannabe who used to live on the outskirts of washington d.c.
but has since (inexplicably) moved back to texas.
he writes poems for thrills and attention. over the years
his work has appeared in many small, insignificant publications
both in and out of cyberspace. in real life he fools with
computers, has always been married, loves dogs, remembers
a BLUE fish and four BRONZE frogs, and has taken to planting
some wild grass seeds in various places around a forest where
all his loves and desires reside.
copyright notice:
all this is copyright 2008 by ray heinrich and the free
state of dogs. comments are VERY welcome (send to:
ray@wordbiscuit.com ), ALWAYS read and LOVED as proof
that someone out there acknowledges my existence, but
not always responded to which is a greedy, selfish act
on my part which i seem to keep committing but at least
i'm not wearing any pants and the shirt i used to say i
was wearing had a quote on it from noam chomsky and some
chew marks left on it by a small, obstinate poodle who
was curled up, sleeping, resting his head on my feet a
few minutes ago but is now upstairs barking at a squirrel
and now he's back and now, a month later, he's back again
and now, another month later, he's upstairs barking cause
he wants me to come up and walk him which i'll have to do
so i'll be back in a minute, well, it's been a month and
he's watching the baby raccoons again and there's no living
with him until they stop catching and eating the moths on
the screen door and you'd think they'd be scared of him
but no they're just ignoring us and two months later
they're lots bigger and we finally got some rain and three
months after that it's finally getting cold except for
my happy feet beneath a warm and still obstinate poodle
and more months later he's asleep in the other room and
my feet are cold and i have every intention of getting
up and doing something about this but not quite yet and
even more months later he's started up a .com with Ilane
to sell virtual cat and mouse jerky and a little more than
a month later he's back having burned out on e-business
and ready to get back to barking at anything that moves
which, months later, is a five foot king snake that thinks
it's warmer in here than outside and i grab the poodle
before he can chew on it and try to catch it but having
warmed up in the house it's REALLY fast so i explain to
it that it's welcome and all but i'm not about to feed it
so it will just have to fend for itself and, by the way,
watch out for the poodle and if you should ever get up
to massachusetts, say hi to Ilane for me and four years
later the damned poodle is even worse but likes to lay
his head on my feet again and three months later he's
chewed up my wallet again, but this time he not only
got my credit cards (they were all maxed out anyway)
but $25 in cash which i'm now trying to piece together
all the while thinking that life must be a metaphor
for something that only the dog knows and later the
dog is still ornery and he can't understand why there
are now five cats as well. he ignores them, but they
love him and like to rub up against him when he's
trying to pee.
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