8/21/03

I was
born in yr eyes when
god set california
on fire to punish
them for all of my
sins.

It is there that
flowers grow from the
pavement and palms
from our hearts
and greed from our
lips and pain from
our dreams.

I touched you
after touching down drunken,
tranquilized.

I carried a promise in my
pocket so there was never any fear. Only imagined-
projected over the hills
in the valley and into the radio
tower sky burned brown and scarred
by our urine.

Why is it I still
smell you at every turn?

...

Where are you and
why don't you respond to my
neurotic calls?

Do you swallow light? Do you
swallow my sound?

Will you hate beyond your years
so when you finally explode over
the sage and sand your vapor will
fill and replenish the dry
ground once again. Will it
take as long to find ourselves
and set the course
straight for all time?

...

Noble Buddhas! Blanket our
earth with wish and ash and
bone of wise compassion and fury.

Clear our minds of sin that
never exists, and samsara that does
only in dreams.

Noble Buddhas! Deafen us to ignorance
and remove our heavy serpent tongues!

Descend upon us like silent assassins and
slice us through and slay our duality.