signifiers

it began with a breath and a bang

april was a reminder that

naming flowers only repeats
themes set down in stone
in fire forging concrete abstracts
only one species grasped
and babies in cuddled bosoms breathing
also start in breath and blood
from tundra crust to overfarmed soil
to bleachers at your high school thing
where once with breath and tonguetips touching
amulets and radio totem
ricochet is also one       also
this and also that and        also also

trembling meek before the pudding
like       lava named from       swelling goddess
or named by adam       as if needed
it means wash or inspiration
in japanese and maybe wolof
or else they bend its sign to say
capital and common usage
like       forage       gimlet       silverback
among the mules tread tollboothed trails
along these abstract concrete ruins
lackadaisical plate tectonics
roguish as in polytechnic
pirates call it platypus
in orcish it means shibboleth

things that are not interesting and why and also things that are and why not

red rhinoceros is interesting not
because it is red       red is not
interesting       but because
rhinoceros like sea urchin is—
the ripe flowering fruit
apple       pomegranate       pear
& the tree that grew in your backyard
whatever tree that is       for me
the coconut palm       that’s interesting
aliens building the pyramids is
not interesting       as aliens building
a shoe cabinet would be       a red shoe
cabinet to fill with red shoes       red shoes
are not interesting because they are
red       but because shoes like wheels &
doors and the standing wave
vibration in a miles davis record
and what about the pharaohs
pharaohs are not as much as the first
man who cracked open a coconut
or the one who with no thought to am
gave their life to the appeasement of
gods            gods are not interesting

but what if it was a woman who cracked
that coconut and why didn’t it occur at first to
the awakened mind       that’s not interesting
the history of limits       that is

i mean, what about those shoes & wheels
& doors & cool being birthed in the midst
of mccarthy & new england myths
i saw goody marilyn dancing naked
with the devil!
i saw ozzy osbourne live
in 83
and what about the beats
notes that drift
down from clouds—
we hear the rumble of a dying beat
a beat with wrath & mercy who
with brimstone & lava smashed—but
gods are not interesting
blue banana is interesting but
not as much as the one—the human one—
who first peeled it
blue is not so interesting even
blue skin that guy who cuts hair
on the enterprise—
that android though—the
one who makes us question the
definition of life       life like muskrats
loving in a cornfield—
scarecrows who come to life and scare
children in the cornfield
that’s not that interesting—

those children however—
simple machines of their parents’ lust—
looking at the universe through eyes not yet
accustomed to the spelling of words—
the green of the grass the leaves the algae—
green is not interesting but algae is—
and why are the children in a cornfield anyway
a cornfield is not a ballfield
if you build it
they won’t come
but what about those churchy folks who
church out on the regular
going to see their maker
when their time there in the green & blue is
time no more
like the shaman divining
perfect human encumbrance—
the witch at her cauldron—
the bodhisattva at rest—
the rabbi who asked       who
is the most tragic
character in the bible
the guesses came briskly
is it jeremiah?
is it jonah?
is it job?

the ashes of the earth are clumped in his toe jam
the most tragic character in the bible is god