words for April

in honor of poetry in New Orleans


a festival
of poetry
and crawfish
slam no slack image
riot
sound performance
of melody
syntax
or a walk
in the bayou

once I saw an alligator
and dreamt of poetry
a wildflower
iris in the swamp
dragonflies
and tiny lizards

remind me, like
when a single line
at once, disarms
a refrain of syllabic
shattered mystique
occupies

"what dark phantoms
creep in the underbelly
of your dream?"

throw back some oysters
beer etc
excess
win the lottery until
the underbelly turns
out, out of step
unrestrained



*quote from Michael 'Quess?' Moore's "America, what's in your name?"

poem

imagine thirst

folded over by sand

dust crackling

jigsaw dirt riverbed

a giant sucking sound

the water

like in a cartoon

a tornado

spiraling away

rolling downhill from the

river bed, dirt crackling

to the edges

cliff coast

falling off

imagine the water

running scared

sacred

your insides

shriveling

collapsing in

scatter like ash

at the touch

April poem

if on any day
any collection
reminisce
follow
detour
pick up one stone
at a time
if in a space, contained
a piece of sun
back-lit
underpin the amble
toward