america

come away with me-
let’s sift and scurry through the
underbrush,
the coarse, uneven, tangle weed
a speckled ,blonde
dune sea
sing- along masterpiece,
and the highs of the tide
will brush the lemongrass
with the very ends
of their upper lips until
a whispered prayer and what’s
left of a biscuit crumble
sleepily into the
ocean spray.
i think i'll paint my porch
orange tonight.
pastel aquamarine can only do so much
to plywood from 1966.

-----

touch me sweetly, hold me dear,
weep the olive willow tear,
thistle low and milkweed high,
Johnny never told me why

-----

the lanterns fade, the carriage rolls,
the distant iron church bell tolls,
through dusted road and grassy knolls,
a circus came to town last night,

the band was aged and loosely worn,
with tired eyes and brash encore,
but i’d never danced like that before,
until the year I had to fight,

the metal gleam and fierce restraint,
of bayonets and clowning paint,
and red balloons and Mary’s saint,
all came together yesterday,

i’ll stumble on through oak and pine,
and suckle rose and honey vine,
and maybe then i’ll know what’s mine,
but now there is no other way