which when ripe will certainly make up for the increase in rent

(First published in Password.)

Fragment 71

to keep my optimism fueled for this thing. I still can’t tell if it’s working or not or if it ever will, but can you

it’s not the worst assignment you’ll get just wait until your task is repeatedly plucking the legs of various cicada from the gaps between their rotting teeth you’ll want to go back to blatantly secreting soil from the fingernails of fresh corpses before those hoards encircle the city once more fulfilling the prophecies that

really judge that standing in the middle of it? I’m still not sleeping very well. I think I might have to go back to journaling

wafted from the mouth of a lost puppet by way of the museums of mice who have feasted on the rusted flesh of a half-eaten apple in the dust of a reluctant decision gnawed on for twenty years which is whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the bland job I neither hate nor love or bow to the boughs of trees the crowded subway the bass line of a new song deified in the sun-symphony of her hair her smile but can worn images steer worse to better the cards show no numbers no suits just your reflection in the mirror across the street beyond the sparse forest with darkness closing in to sleep

before bed. I did do an extra half hour of meditation last night and I think that did help me get to sleep. But then it was so hot in the bedroom that I was sort of tossing and turning a lot. And I think M was feeling the same.

softly beneath the black warmth of the legs of your horse the river talks loudly tonight and through its nature imparts a restless feeling to those who love to be astonished so we may once again make a claim on the portion of the kingdom we believe is our birthright but the verification process is tedious and it’s more often the other way around grasp it too tightly and it shatters cuts your hand and everyone at the party looks and I bought so many things that had to be indexed labeled filed maintained to feel some emotion in regards to consumer accessories my skin was getting better but yet it was not enough I could say that my plan was not quite world domination though I knew what I would have to do but one day the mountain carked

and ran through what was left of the town the people stood by as they had for so many generations and I felt the wind on the sand on my thighs looking for an escape well I might be busy that evening but we’ll see it doesn’t sound enticing but I can’t say that to him you know how sensitive he is about these things and it’s only now that he has found the tools with which to deconstruct the various elements that form afterward instead of watching the snowball

Fragment 58

should look at the NaNoWriMo project

for years so one day you may enjoy the feel of it in your pocket I suppose that’s the story isn’t it in some city of broken shells and unavoidable night work

and see what I feel about it

perfecting songs of pain gargling with gravel and when they wake the tender young ones scatter to the traditional winds

because of course I’m having some

though of course this is plucked from moldering magazines I found in the abandoned shack I can’t say whether or not we are quite so cruel today why do you ask oh I see that’s a fair point and maybe

doubts. I have been enjoying

you’re right my catchphrase could use some polishing

forcing myself to write more than usual

but in some tree is the bird that will steal back my girl

though. And there is a part of me

as it tangles its talons in her dark hair and we all laugh over the situation like in a commercial

that wants to see it through

hawking a subscription to an ulcerative colitis treatment but that won’t keep us for long

to the end. And there’s also

so let’s pretend we’ve done all that and go on alone we’ve had quite enough of that thank you very much so let’s enjoy these pastries and take an experimental drive through the local green I’m sure it will do us some good to get out of the theoretical and have

that part of me that wants

the warm ground beneath us no that’s not an analogy for whatever you have in your back pocket though those pants leave little to what little imagination I have

to have already given up and moved

that’s not crowded with ghosts demons blimps goblins wraiths widgets rebates succubi incubi gorging chupacabras mini pastries vampire guarantees windy and crypto boys kappa trolls blind meddlers not to mention

on to other things. I mean,

undigested bits of last year’s and last decade’s forced and corporate-mandated merriments and yes though it sounds and is tiring typically there will be half a moment in which

I feel bad that I haven’t really touched

you can run out the door into your shiny metal cube and disappear

into the clouds as is the style these days which of course implies

the sonnets in a while and

but let’s pause there and instead try to look sweetly upon them

I haven’t looked at my haiku. But I suppose

I can tell you they cherish the feeling of an insect crawling through their hair not that that detail matters I just fell in love with their elaborate vocabulary for describing these hirsute hijinks so perhaps it’s better to

you have to what? I guess I

investigate first and take a furtive shower later as they say then we can finally return those socks that were supposed to cure our bunions no I didn’t have hopes as high as I had hoped

Fragment 35

wanted. And I wanted all
the toys. There was always
some commercial or catalog

base of this house here you see where the original foundation was laid and this line is where builders had some kind of cozy dream 100 to 150 years later or it may have been a fire or perhaps something we have no language for or understanding of and so if you look and keep looking we can steadily unravel how the building grew from egg to newt through adolescence to senescence not of course quite the same as looking at an old tree its dependable circles always circling but perhaps like a person in that we do sometimes grab

that would feed my greed for
new garbage. And even if I had gotten
all of it, would I have felt any better? I think we

hold to the love of a season and bolt it on to ourselves hoping it might give us another internal closet a bigger bathroom a better view past those irritating neighbors from a tastefully ornate balcony but we also need to be aware of what we’re building towards and what our foundations are made of but yes maybe it would be simpler to keep the trees in mind and start the whole thing over from the roots or look at the growth of a quartz crystal if it’s a particularly dark day with some drizzle in which you want to

know the answer. And then I think,
in the past, when I’ve gotten something
I had desperately wanted the excitement

feel a bit of brightness at your core the feeling that you too could become someone on your chosen stage and when you speak people drop their phones and look in your direction maybe our example needs a quantum of precision in order to neatly fit in the hole left by the puzzle pieces whose homes we have already discovered the right void needs the right bit of the garden shed and that tiny edge of cloud that makes it pop and the deeper green of the grass in the background however we must start here in the mottled foreground

wore off quickly. So I don’t know that I can blame
my childhood. Maybe this is the way I’m built

where we stand and the simplest way to go about is sometimes all we need I think well no one likes a know-it-all and that fact has led to irreparable wounds and bruises yes all self-inflicted but what is it that you fear some unkind remark or the sound of nothing who can blame you but somehow we have to find a way to keep letting the world know that we’re here and still waiting for the secondary elaboration as promised in several recent communications so can we touch base on that first thing Monday morning please and thank you

or programmed or whatever. But no
matter what the cause, I have to face
and come to terms with it.

[And click here if you’d like to take the plunge.]

Fragment 23

I want to take a break and I think that helps. One thing that’s been irritating me this week is a case of cracked lips.

why do you ask oh I see well yes that’s fair maybe that should be my catchphrase but in that tree no that one over there you’ll see the bird that stole a jewel from your hair you assumed you’d never see him again but that tiny hat is unmistakeable unless things have taken another strange turn in the woods I suppose nothing would be too surprising these days but you’re right we should pretend not to see him we don’t want any trouble this forenoon so here we come to the stone ruin the information plaque is badly faded

I think they got chapped or maybe sunburned? I can trace it to when we were eating outside at Valencia last weekend. I had the sun on my face for the whole meal. I don’t know if that’s what did it but that was the last time I remember not

but we can make out a date from the last century and something about a fire and a great experiment that’s mostly the story of all of our lives isn’t it if only there were something steady to stand on instead of these slimy rocks but then beneath they work day and night perfecting pestos and symphonies guarding eggs and their tender young they scatter when the rock is lifted though I know we won’t do anything quite so cruel today will we I can see that glint in your eye when you’ve had your last cup of tea and

the dog is curled up snoring beside you when the world seems a word of calm between breaths and pick up your book while we wait for the apocalypse that is taking its sweet time think of that person whose death will give you wings but if we don’t find that inspiring perhaps we can review the correct pronunciations of the latest drugs and open that box they asked us to keep safe and sealed what’s the worst that could happen of course it’s just a slight song from the dinky walnut deep inside your brain or deep inside the

forest which is the analogy we’ll use for your mind brain included at no cost though skip the extended warranty if you oh you have money to burn well burn away who am I to stop you I just feel so tired so unable to there comes a time when you think perhaps the rotten floorboards should be replaced before we lose another guest in a sudden collapse and have to clean the carpets yet again I know we should have dealt with it centuries ago but time being what it is and our hands what they are the moment

having a problem with my lips. I’ve tried to use some lip balm a few times but I don’t know how much that really helps.

[And click here if you’d like to take the plunge.]