Gather up the clouds, the rain
Gather up the sounds, the pain
Gather up the stones, the moss
Gather up the trail, the loss
Gather up the signs, the past
Gather up the thoughts, the massed
Gather up the will, the wine
Gather up the youth, the vine
Gather up the flesh, the tree
Gather up the blood, the free
Gather up the pulse, the node
Gather up the blooms, the road
Gather up the hungry, the eye
Gather up the earth, the sky
Gather up the face, the fair
Gather up the empty, the stare
Gather up the turn, the paid
Gather up the time, the trade
Gather up the beast, the haze
Gather up the trial, the maze
Gather up the parched, the sand
Gather up the dense, the hand
Gather up the furrow, the brow
Gather up the harrow, the plow
Gather up the fear, the sight
Gather up the words, the might
Gather up the courage, the ring
Gather up every desperate living thing
Place a candle at the top of the spire
Burn to accord the hearts desire
Man to a time not less than glory
Bound to a ramparts fading ...

Allegory consumption is at it's peak in the late spring
At least there is salt for all profitable ventures
Sailors list with the ship and lisp from the lip
Good maiden won't you cool my tongue
Fresh water seems so far away...

A gentle breeze washes through my hair and parts the sun
Right where the shades are drawn in pencil and ink
So far the way and near the race undone
Sweet maiden won't you give me just one drink

So gather up the sticks and marry the stones
Gather up the dirt and cover the bones
Gather up the keeping of the candles flame
Gather up the breaking of guilt and shame
Gather up the wise and gather up the sorrow
Ramparts fading unto the...

morrow.

A year has come between us and December.
I worked to find shelter but already it was dark
with winter rain, with winter traffic on the roundabout.
Look… I’ve had enough! In front of the upstream
Went I and wept at the coldstream.
I was praying. I was fleeing in my prayers and my
legs were underhooked between electric buses.
I started to braid a leash around my neck.
This street is full of dealers and workshops
where men weld themselves to their shadows.
Someone darted out of the slips of corrugated
and the slips of iron. Then it was evening and
another nightform passed from slip to slip, dealing.
With my new throat leash, I obediently searched
for my owner. Is he beautiful? Will she have tumors 
building death into her udder?
Is he senile with age like me?
Why is this street so busy?

sheer ambiguity 

I'm hoarding your candles
I'm counting by threes
I'm washing the doubts
from your choicest disease
I stand by the wayside
with a sign of your times
I'm cashing my chips in
for nickles and dimes
I'm bruising your liver
with random malaise
I'm trashing my moments
with your shortened days
You're seeking the answers
In fossilized fists
I'm sneering and sated
the slashes in your wrists
With counter wise clock hands
I'm building a wall
for seconds and epics 
both empty and small
Today with the vengeance 
of tomorrows dead trees
I'm carving out shadows
with roots in dead seas...

b