lip service

spittle
my lips open
that I may praise, yet once
again, from these lips spew curses
abjure your spit and leave
me dumb to all
the spew

the sound of silence

deaf to all
who hear
yet there is more
understanding
silent cues to life
a gift
I do not have

why did they beg
Jesus to finger out
the quiet streams
drying up
the peace
I do not have
understanding

blind sight

unbind
my eyes with loam;
tightly lids of clay melt
in Siloam's rinse, set them free--
selah

Feeding the Mass

crumbs sip
the red wine, full
to feed the fish, returned
from water's trials to spawn anew
living

Misereres and Miseries

sometimes
Hallelujah
buzzes in the fly's mouth
"Beelzebub" drops from its tongue
instead

my tongue
sticks to the roof
of my mouth as I search
for the Hallah and uttered words
from G-d

Meditations: 1

the sanctuary light-play
stained glass
divides the white like prisms
in the pews
women shush children-patter
hoping for the life-giving

the forest cleaves shade
through new-green fingers
under the canopy
nursing stumps hold high
their adopted youth
fostering the sun's rays

The Beat

blessings
be attitude
inheritance is ours
kingdoms belong to poor spirits
Heaven

Earth falls
meekly sweeping
stars in its path, our feet
battle the beat; soiled soles linger
aching

good mourn
childhood days when
comforters covered beds
apples from the tree un-bidden
Eden

righteous
food tastes bitter
where is the apple now?
empty, the well of our souls wait
thirsty

plowshares
hold back the crop
merciless man reaps death
future tenses at the peace dream
walling

the wails
cleanse the face, not
the eyes cloud, the skies rail
frozen tears, the hail that makes us
look up

children
peacemakers, all
grow under thorny plants
poked and prodded, crowned, soon sodden
people

yet beat
the message grows
planting something hidden
till the proper time when justice
blesses

hamartia

here I am in my old skin
watching the trees
try to catch wind
in branches not yet dressed

hear me hear you?
I strip down to a bare soul
try to catch the spirit
with a holey heart

scars

too old to be new
this spirit quilted
with bits of the best
used material
reinforced patterns

the cups

I

it holds my attention:
this liquid invigorator
warm, earth-toned, bitter
milked by a jug
to soften the edge

it calls my intentions:
come, swirl and sink in this
drink, where I may swallow
and remember
what I need to do

II

it surrounds the liquid
mass of quivering promises
Luke-warmed, blood-toned
bitters for the old
sweets for the young

vine-fed memories call
for my intentions, come
kneel and sink in this, drink
and remember
swallow the truth, whole

trumpeting

swans sing
souls wing
white breasted
freedom

if I could fly

my fingertips would quiver
in slippery streams of air
city of Tena's breath
held fast beneath
a cloudy draft

At St. Peter's Gate

minor slips of the key
bell tones without answer
scales fall from the serpent

countless skins of sin I shed
skeins of naked truth threading
through the I's of needle's pain

pins drop and ping to sing
hallelujah's jazzy
lift, but still, the wrong key

Punctuated Variegations

A leaf
falls from the branch(,)
with brittle lines(,) it cracks
the vein along its central core--
broken

reaching for the blessing

Psalm  103 or 130?

the Pit surrounds
my arm
tighter and tighter
only my hand
above ground

Feeding Thought

I once bottled thoughts
too young to spill
nourishment

grains grew ears
combines
sharpened blends

meat was butchered
chopped
processed

until questions rose
like blood
in the garden

where truth
cried out for mercy
bread cried out

loaves, fish, wine, and salt
men and women eat
but do not share

if they share
it's bitter herbs
He said, "love your neighbor."

I believe: we are destined to make choices.

Spiral Staircase

Jacob slept upon a stone
clouds tumbled down to join
where angels walked in silence

I dreamt the stairs' cold stone
beneath bare soles where I
walked and sang with angels

distressed upon my cloudy wake
the songs no longer understood
my mind--no stones--alone

beached rescue

baby salmon
soft, silver flesh
heaving mouth
yawning
yearning for water
on the sand

I lift the soft
silver bullet
pulsing, aching
water's air
a lap away

slipped from death
the mouth opens
its salutation
a resuscitating
swallow

To a Certain Levite of 19 Judges:

you took her
as property listed
with your asses
poor concubine

a generic label
same ingredients:
your fattened shaft
and increased assets

to Kindly's house
you went
men came
they wanted you

but Kindly bartered
his virgin daughter
and your concubine
fodder on the block

the men didn't shake
and just for that
tit for tat
concubine was flung

they took her--

ravaged, she crawled

her hands clamped
the threshold
matrimony's entrance
no one answered

upon your exit
you bid her rise
without chivalry
blind to her bleeding vaults

precious blood spilled
for your ass
you butchered her
re-gifted her, territorially

if you were a man
you wouldn't have
you would have given
your own sorry ass

Museum of Science + Industry: Chicago

ajar
my mouth open
wide to see the fetus
collection on the shelf--babies
hold my wonder at life
carefully stored
in jars