A th b ttom.

She took the car keys I gave her and drove it right through the front of the yard, burning rubber over the sidewalk, the road, past the stop sign, and a quarter mile down until third gear spun into the torque converter, spilling transmission fluid over the top of the headers, causing a white vapor to rise amongst the disintegrating tire. There was a body a block down, under the blinking light post. It shivered in patterns similar to a dying heart. I remember sitting there, on my porch, watching the injured man, waiting for him to get up, but instead, wolves came.

I've got nothing to say. I know that you stole my lines from the first time. Your purse fell off your shoulders and you knew I knew they were frangible. All I cared about were those lines. You rolled your eyes like comets over Cucamonga peak. I drove off and left your frailty in the summer midnight heat. Your mother said you went missing.

He's an oyster with a grain of sand. The cup's a plastic fitted lid for my grandfather's tomb. I remember the day we severed the thumb from my hand. The gardeners discussed the possibility of eating their young. She ignited the town with her flaming brand. The imagination will continue to need more and more room.

Destructive

I am reactionless, full of naive gaze, like the candy bar vending machine glowing its yellow-green glow. Unflinching, I move around the girl's body, as though it were a statue of sanitary laws, bidding my removal. I will to remove. I will to place my palm upon. Engendered into believing our history would play it cool. Six years of struggle and enjoyment, disaster and achievement. The lark will carry me to my car, the ignition key dangles like its nape. Where has that concentration gone? Blank and beautiful, and uncontrollably controlled. You are hard-wired to mute, shove, evade, and destroy.

Her

"Nothing unusual, nothing strange,
close to nothing at all.
The same old scenario, the same old rain.
And there's no explosions here.
Then something unusual, something strange,
comes from nothing at all.
I saw a spaceship fly by your window..
Did you see it disappear?

____, come sit on my wall.
And read me the story of O.
And tell it like you still believe
that the end of the century
brings a change for you and me.

Nothing unusual, nothing's changed.
-Just a little older that's all
You know when you've found it.
There's something I've learned
'cause you feel it when they take it away.

Something unusual, something strange,
comes from nothing at all.
But I'm not a miracle
and you're not a saint.
Just another soldier
on the road to nowhere

____, come sit on my wall.
And read me the story of O.
And tell it like you still believe
that the end of the century
brings a change for you and me."

-D.Rice

Favorite Line

I sat in your window while you
drove home,
sprinkling the feathers
into your pillow case.
Your hands steered left and
I dropped down,
leaving a dream
of scattered dove song.

"Older chests reveal themselves
like a crack in a wall.
Starting small, and grow in time.
And we always seem to need the help
of someone else
to mend that shelf.
Too many books.
Read me your favorite line."

And we closed our box
one too many times.
The hinges, rusted in their fold.
The blankets on the bed,
unmade,
and instead,
creased with our last shapes.
Never thought we're getting old.

"Older chests reveal themselves
like a crack in a wall.
Starting small, and grow in time.
And we always seem to need the help
of someone else
To mend that shelf.
Too many books.
Read me your favorite line."

-your favorite line.

(Quotations: D. Rice)

Rings

The rings of a tree trunk are nature's markings.

The passage of time. A dendrochronology.

You were a bird to me, flapping through bristles of

leaves among my favorite trees, elms and maples.

You were winged and gentle, supportive and supported,

but now I have mulch from dead grass -from songs

you sang. Hummingbird, please don't fly away.

Plans

I would never ask you to sacrifice your dreams for the sake of my needs. In fact, I would never judge you by what you are uncomfortable with doing. As long as I am with you, that's all that would matter. Being apart of your endeavors, your dreams is more than one could ask for. Bring apart of what makes you the person you are is more than one could ask for. I would change for you, I would make for you, I would swim for you, I would take for you.

The materials were there, and so were the plans.
The materials were there, and so were the plans.

I had never felt so betrayed by myself when considering you. I had never felt so unable in my specialties. I had never rethought my beliefs, my spirit, my concentration until you. Your single interest, that one desire ran through my heart like a channel of flame, incinerating all of its function. And just like the respect and trust I rebuilt, you failed to acknowledge, and instead grew quiet, calm, complacent.

The materials were there, and so were the plans.
The materials were there, and so were the plans.

Somersault, sideways dive.
I'll wish you the best of luck, but I don't do goodbyes.

Be Careful Where You Stand

...the salt
rocks reveal
the dagger you have
hidden.

Evening Redness in the West

It's a mystery. A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he don't want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man, the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. An a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it. You believe that?

-C. McCarthy

Locus

I am nowhere and we are now.
Like a parade in a New York storm,
her shadow marched to a stick
on a snare drum; rum is not
enough. We need what's best
for us.

Cover the flags, drape your
marks. Make sure to feed
all those demons dwelling
inside of your double
chambered heart. Pull with your might,
sting with the song, O
devilish lark! Compartments,
complaints, compartments,
complaints. Check in your bags
before you start.

I am nowhere and am now, colored
-a cadmium scarlet, russet, violet,
caviar blue, and tube top gray. Pray
for my sins, for they have mistaken:
of course not taken a thing, but
what's in store inside the timekeeper's
pockets, lavishly stitched so each prick
feels like veal, singing, beauty,
she's so soft and tender. Pretty little
thing. She'll sing, just you watch. She'll sing.

WoRd gAMe

Her period blood stained my sheets
-the smell crept in my nose like a spider to its nest.
The taste lingered in my furniture, past the
bed mattress. Her cherry rhubarb pie, crusted.
Was it worth the $50? -I didn't think so.

She left her razor on the sink, pubic hair
was caught between the worn blades.
I remember her saying "Fuck" the moment
she felt it. It was like an accident on the
meridian. It's a good thing I'm a sailor...

-Islas & Uller