Hate crowds out love
Don’t feed that snarling flame.

Perfume the air of your souls
      with the fragrance of kinship.

Our lives are limited
      in breadth and scope and want.

Seek a higher yearning.
We still have time.

Yielding — to what?
Body shooting up flares left and right.
(My psyche, too).

I remain unsettled.
Eager to do so little.
Marching toward nothing           and caring not a wit…

Must. Break. Free.

Tethered gods in steely disarray
chicken feathers, bloodied and spare, bear witness
to savage foxes, wily and sleek
unearthed talismans of anguished fear
raised up amid the twilight of the heavens
seers of stars
while Orion speaks softly
to those who bravely heed his words.

tangled twisted sheets
unchecked forward momentum
       glowing red numbers
       on a small black box
eyes tightly clenched
against the quiet of the night
images intrude
noisily unbidden
like a black & white western
a steam locomotive
approaches the platform
its piercing whistle
and billowing smoke
herald the arrival
of endless passengers
embarking
on an already crowded
sleep-weary consciousness