Blood Dries Fast

if your hands 

are not clenched

into fists yet

it is time

to wash them

blood dries fast

your prayer requests

are lip service

on unmarked graves 

if you know

even one of their names 

and have not conceded yet 

i pray their ghost

haunts you 

until your 

mind and heart 

explode

i pray it hurts

you will be left standing here

with every one I love, wondering,

what the fuck is actually happening 

love is only

holy and righteous

when given freely

if prayers really do come true 

you will recover quickly and steadfast,

pull yourself together just in time 

to stand with the rest of us

on the right side of history 

if salvation’s found in the afterlife 

it is keeping your neighbors alive, 

right now, before the blood dries,

that will hold your reservation there 

 

By Any Means Possible

Winter weather advisory in effect

Snow blankets Arkansas  

Phones capture white landscapes 

Moments of pristine stillness

that are about to be destroyed

by the footprints of the restless 

In Minneapolis

ICE murders a man in broad daylight 

At home, the oven is preheating 

Scratch cookie dough in the fridge

How utterly horrible 

to be baking cookies at a time like this 

How absolutely frightening 

to watch his death

from three different angles

and then taste my chili 

to see if it needs more seasoning

This isn’t the human condition

it’s desensitization 

It’s reconditioning 

It goes without saying

We cannot accept this

We have to abolish this

By any means possible 

How To Destroy the World

If left up to me

we wouldn’t stand a chance 

The sun would hit my skin

perfectly

just once

and I would stand there

in its heat and radiance

for months

I would forget rest

forget the night phlox,

moon flowers, and primroses

The earth would have no night hours 

If I woke up 

from that daydream,

I might catch one sight 

of the full moon,

forget it is sometimes new,

for 24/7 host evening church

on my patio 

and every sermon I’d write 

would be about Saint Francis,

flowers and midnight

Wax, wane (and destroy) just words 

I can’t recall the meaning of 

This is how

the world will end 

A collection of single bodies

moved by whims,

forgoing the seasons

for instant gratification 

Maybe if we circle back 

to the beginning

everything could just be 

temporarily out of order

Forgetting forgiven 

every time we remember 

I Want To Be A Temple

Somewhere along the way 

I lost sight of godliness

and was left only with 

my obsession for cleanliness  

Unfortunately, the hyper-fixatin’

ain’t savin’ me 

Maybe the in-between

is to enter into a chaotic space 

without feeling like 

something needs to be fixed

or demanding tidiness 

Maybe orderliness  

is inside of me

A stillness

that does not collect dust 

Is it okay

if I think 

that last bit 

is perfect 

Placeholders

I am liquidating my placeholders 

I would rather not have a couch

than sit on one I do not want

I’ve been spending time on the floor

cross-legged, kneeling, on all fours 

Curled up in a ball 

Thinking, praying, cleaning

Begging

Hopefully my neighbors can’t hear me

I don’t want them to worry 

I have been giving away

small objects 

that no longer serve me

to the people I think

they will make the most happy

Eventually everything I keep

will be something

I deeply care for

or that takes care of me 

Eventually when I lie on the floor

it will only be to stretch my back

or to meditate on charity 

There will be nothing to beg for

everything in its right place

Quiet altars only

 

only so many

The trains are busy 

Moving slow

frequently 

Carrying heavy things 

so heavy 

the tracks barely rattle 

I’m trying to memorize 

the graffiti

Waiting until 

they’re familiar to me 

There can only be 

so many trains

Non-Ascetics. Monarchs. Libraries.

I regularly choose

substance 

over aesthetics 

I would rather it mean 

something (anything, everything,

somewhere in between)

than look pretty 

Balance is not the same thing as symmetry 

Yesterday someone told me

they didn’t want to interrupt me

because I looked so at peace,

headphones on, closed eyes

I started to explain to them

about the migration of Monarchs

but paused, said simply

“I was meditating on butterflies” 

Today I met Revelations 

He asked me how my day was

“Good. Great actually.”

He said, “Exactly…” 

and wanted so badly

to tell me something

I didn’t already know 

So I listened with all of me

because I don’t know everything

He told me 

the devil is in so many

We can’t care about everybody 

He was bible thumping,

reminded me that Lucifer

was cast out for a reason,

asked me if I knew Jesus

I told him I do,

but I call him 

by a different name than you 

and rattled on about how

most people believe

in the same thing

we just use different language 

to describe worshipping 

but that I believed

the Kingdom he spoke of

had room for every body

Gawd, this nearly broke him

He kept insisting 

that not being redeemed

was the fate for most everybody 

Eventually I interrupted him,

“Revelations, I really enjoyed 

talking to you,

but I have to get going”

Tonight I read up on

the New Testament,

looked up “imperialism”

And Christ does it hurt

to see history repeat itself 

over

and 

over 

and 

over

again 

and

again

and

again

God is right now 

Saints are documenting

the history of the living.

I think hindsight is Jesus 

I think it could save us