Found Poem.

Getting Ready To Serve

Cut the wings off using the butcher knife.

Remove the drumsticks from the thighs at the joints.

Cut straight down the ribcage (on both sides) to remove the breast from the carcass.

Cut straight down along the breastbone to separate the breast in half.

Of leaves

I was documenting our daily lives
with scientific precision
this is where we are
this is what we’re doing
this is the weather
I froze us in time

without a past
without a future
in the photographic present
we
were happy

at least that’s how I presented it

but in the snapshot of us
lying somewhere
in some archive
the voyeur was more sincere

it shows you

bearing the backpack I loaded you down with
struggling ahead
and making painful progress up the hill

and me
lagging behind
taking picture upon picture
of trees
and moss
and bark
and rock
and leaves
and leaves and leaves and
leaves.

The first temptation of the chairman

I am tempted to photograph
your empty seat
abandoned for a minute
in the middle of the day

I will pin up the picture
and familiarise myself with the emptiness
lest the suddenness of absence
shock me
into permanent silence
and a fear of chairs

Resurrecting the write stuff

the white paper is dusty
and sort of shy

and so am i

we eye one another
careful not to cross the lines

the first cautious click
of a paralyzed pen

and suddenly
we're friends again

there is hope for us
we rekindle our past
we are resurrecting
the write stuff

Dream Remembered

Thus the drowning
of my fish-being wish:

During the night
malicious fish
pulled me into the deep

At first their dark forms
embodied no menace
helpless in the way
the lumped above the water
giant blobs of pitch black butter
they would not melt
inside this mouth

Thus the suffocation
of my earth-braving birth:

Listen to their curious noises
resonating
with the sea note
in my stomach

laughter wails yawning

the fish are calling
summoning the sudden move
from the shadow of the shadow
that particular lunge
from utter blackness
the forward pitch

and waking in water
trailing bubbles
there's no need to breathe
when you're cloaked in life
they bare their vicious teeth
and unlock the glow
in unholy eyes
the journey alters me
i have grown gills
"nice"
i think
"nice"
the phosphorous light licks at the ice
this is electronic music
these are my fins
sinking to a new low
i take the bait

Thus the demise
of my flying dreams of dying:

wings are of no use to the water bound
i take my lessons from malicious fish
thus my wish
my birth
my death
this is a dream
i remember it now

Arbor Day

i leave
i l e a v e
i leave i leave i leav e
i leave i leave i leave i l e a v e
i l ea ve i leave i leave
i leave i leave i leave i leave
i leave i leave i leave i leave
i leave i leave i le ave
my exits
are a
healthy
tree
i have
uprooted
i am gone

Scraps on feast

something is weighing on my mind
with all the gravity of an antique oak table
creaking under the weight
the wait

set for a family
a group of friends
something is weighing on my mind

something is eating at me
the weight
the wait
the family
the friends
there is an antique table on my mind
and no one is eating
the table is creaking
the weight
the wait
something is eating at me

something is driving me to drink
the teetotaler stumbles to the table
the table on my mind
the empty table
there is no one
family
friends
the weight
the wait
the shadow at my table
the empty plate

something is weighing on my table
no one eats with me
drink
creak
wait
the weight
of the table
the table on my mind
buried under mountains of things to be shared

food
feast
family
friends
the antique table on my mind

i bow my head
and my neck snaps