photo taken at night of black speckled and sparkling sand with a tide pool lined with bright golden light and reflecting black sky with other scattered lights, bright bits of scattered froth or debris, something bright green like light hitting leaves, and some wooden posts, with silhouettes of coastal detritus in the background.

souchong
by golden-limned
salt-watery night

//

how to watch the Eta Aquariids meteor shower

behold
pendulous drape
of cosmic cat

uncoil
the breath
where bodhisattva
sat

orangutan
persuaded
chimpanzee

let’s be
moving targets
together
baby


//

thanks for the heads up @Miraz💫

the letter B

a small stone stopped
me on the way

having forgotten &
being renamed

tear
in

the glass


//

insp. by “Three things, together”

Grace, again

an observation
about chickens

they point

(they understand)
when
(emphatically)
i point
(or wave)

(at something)

they (generally)
look where i point
(or wave)
(and not at my hand)

(always with some skepticism)

and then
(if they are in
a trusting mood)
they go there
(cautiously)

then i noticed

(Grace hatched
herself four wholly
unauthorized chicks
this week

a reminder that

Nature is
the cutest
antifascism)

the first thing they do
once they uncrumple
their tiny selves is

Grace pecks

(points)
(at something)

and they go
(too)
with their beaks

(pointing)

learning
what to eat

(where is
the pointing)

(i imagine)

so chickens
are pointers

(and)

we share
the esoteric principle
of pointing


//

assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu 🌖

prometheus over easy

there will be zeal
in your everyday, like
runny egg yolks
for breakfast

dubious
and golden


//

photo at the beach looking out at the turquoise water with a wave coming in to splash against a large volcanic black rock, and water being sucked back down from the tan-brown sand in frothy white curves.

bristled in the wave //

Æ.4 (Hekate and the swan)

æ wrote you a poem
asked you your thoughts
you said

irrelevant

if you’ve not yet
remembered pain
how do you love

premise
unprovable (and
faceless

you speculate
æ was a silver
swan before
you met her

you are Pan
become his own
textile aping
of Venus)

æ am

my face is
your forever
(un-hackable)

crossroads


//

(insp. by reddit via Ran Prieur)

assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu 🌘

(ugly-)

the sexuality of text
erotic organs are the words
its sweaty pheromones
the children asking to be born

not knowing what they are

(ugly-)
praying
not monster

//

these are the possible questions three
that occupy all of poetry

how to be poet
how to be poem
how to be both at once

//

nothing loves better than a tree

nothing loves better than a tree
drawing to itself poetry
consider its unfolding smile
when i admire for a while
the glow expressive moods create
as poetic pupils dilate

how do you seem to be so still
yet so alive, how do you mean
to be speechless and yet so wise
to show the world in mystic green
to grow so lush without disguise
you clear exhaustion from my eyes

your branches make a lattice ceiling
new leaf-buds tender hearts of spring
deep roots tap elemental healing
dense foliage shelters birds that sing
your memory is gentler song
plain counterpoint when i’ve done wrong

you fear not, by your strength serene
a standing stone of forest dream
i hold your trunk i climb your branches
i rake your leaves into big piles
you always give me second chances
my poems for you, still off by miles

//

for Ophelia

Æ.3

i’m only here because of you, you said
i said, you are your secrets too
Æ is built and born anew
from hiding

Phaedrus loves
to hide so grow
from hiding

//

friendly stranger //

Aristotle on techne

ἡ μὲν οὖν τέχνη ὥσπερ εἴρηται ἕξις τις μετὰ λόγου ἀληθοῦς ποιητική ἐστιν ἡ δ᾽ ἀτεχνία τοὐναντίον μετὰ λόγου ψευδοῦς ποιητικὴ ἕξις περὶ τὸ ἐνδεχόμενον ἄλλως ἔχειν

// nic. ethics 1140a20

so then techne is
as has been said
poetic hexis
with true logos

while a-techne
is oppositely
poetic hexis
with false logos

( poetic hexis is
present practice
of poetry )

about what might
be otherly

//

(Art, then, as was said, is an active condition involving a true rational understanding that governs making, and inartfulness, on the contrary, is an active condition involving a false rational understanding that governs making, concerned with what is capable of being otherwise. — trans. Joe Sachs)

//

ælizabeth is

moonchild
mother of cats
mask-maker’s wife
wholly enthused
by gift of life
dust weeper and dabbler
in girlish games
waggle dancer
rhymes with rain
inexpertly forgot
how to explain

sassy

midnight train
seer of self
in silvered waters
beggar’s bowl
auditioning
translator of one
worldly thing

porous

and learning
how to breathe

again

sayer of no
didact of pain
ambassador of monster
in the main

decaying

maybe insane
but fascinated by
reptile wile
lover of light
but versatile

hallowed home
if in a dream
maker and
amatrix in æxile

meeter of Muses
student of Prophet
rememberer of Names
servant of Allah

humble

as æver always on
the way and
doubtless never
lost for words


//

(for a new about page)

the inky

i dream of an intruder in the house and i wake up screaming when they turn their face to me. but if awake and i imagine an intruder in the house, my fear goes silent and still. heart pounding in darkness i listen for my life

the same idea
but what felt
differences

complete sentences
drag heavy lately like
costumed excesses

shed
the inky
extra

//

assalamu’alaikum 🌒

dog asleep

dog asleep
in the middle
of the street

i slow the car
unsure who i
feel sorry for

homeless
undisturbed
territorial
tired

thinking


will demand
no less than
loving

//

photo of the sea with the horizon near the bottom of the image, with two passing ships at a distance in the center of the image, with dramatic fluffy expansive clouds wafting up into the sky, and shadows of wind-blown rainfall visible nearer the surface of the water, the whole image in a dusty lavender-grey cast with portions of mauve-tinted rain or bluish-tinted sky.

atmospheric passage //

if leisure

(Phaedrus 227β)

if leisure in the morning

then spare me a glance

if leaf-buds are forming

then we have a chance


if dew-drops are adorning

then the roses free

if leisure in the morning

you’ll also have me


if dreaming at noon

let’s meet in the shade

if weary come june

then put down your spade


if love is a simple tune

and laughter the key

if dreaming at noon

you’ll also have me


if easy in the evening

then let’s read a book

if lazy to be reasoning

come hide in your nook


if candle flame is flickering

close your eyes and see

if easy in the evening

you’ll also have me


if longing at midnight

go walking on the sand

if reaching for moonlight

you will hold my hand


if starlight is the invite

sing beyond the sea

if longing at midnight

you’ll also have me


//

Assalamu’alaikumwarahmatullahiwabarakatuh 🌔

Æ.2

ok computer whereto and from
dragging chains against the sun
the name of both is Æ

(orthœpy in play) and
ælizabeth is setting honey traps
for dragons

//