THE STUDY OF SMALL WORDS

The meaning and function
of light in each.
The near plunge, the boy
who always holds back.
From time to time
I look for new words
and feel the sensation
of discovery. If I invent
my own, it’s not the same
as seeing what’s been.
Still, I go on pretending
to invent. Lumpster. Divinoid.
Somnabulaut. Drop off car
for Joe. In the middle of
the wide field.

*

A proving ground of sorts.
Sousaphone. Warrior-hood.
Attracting all the bears, the sound.
Her foot in some leaves.
Her foot snared by the tongs
of a bug. Cornetist. Monster
fig. Creature of endless desire.
Everywhere I wish you. At all
times and manners. A plate
crashed into an ironing board.
Cues of cause and effect.
Laugh of the oblong torch
in the hand of dart frog.
Barking frog. The ground
is moist and you sink
right in. -ology is the study
of. -oid is possessing of a form.

*

Chihuahua bird. Amoeba ferret,
who’s heart was a hard,
pebble-like cord. She swallowed it
and carried it around in her gullet
where it quivered and throbbed
gently. The amoeba ferret
continued to claw heartlessly.
Where were we going this time?
asked a member of our group.
Didn’t seem clear
anywhere. All sides of the compass
pointed back to the center of zero.
I clutched the root
for survival as the Chihuahua bird
veered into the canopy.
My orange canopy. Lambent
arc. Devouring restlessness.
Shoulder of the disjointed fuse.

*

Interior with ladykiller.
Interior with fox terrier.
Unprobed fathom of the next
century. Untaught
lesson of green.We sit
inside our little hut which is snug
and has a cow wearing an old
tire by the door.
My nephew’s a handsome man.
Someday he’ll be tamed
by she who makes docile
all that she strokes.
The self-domesticated wolves
sit around the fire in the yard.
They yawn and toss
peanut shells back and forth
but they’re mostly tired, lulled
by the warmth of the flames.

*


Ogler, cokebird, toreador.
Show your bird-like fist.
My next son I will name Orville.
There’s a lot of rain this weekend,
think I’ll hike down to the coffeehouse
and make it new. Everybody speaking
about making it new.
Storm control. Quivering,
fire-thatched bird. Holding
the tongue in. Apprentice of.
The hat in an aspect of glory.
The thumb in an aspect of war.
Laying the aspect book
upon the aspect shelf.
How are thee. Thee seem fine,
swishing through the corridors
of the fish farm. Get thee
to a place far away.
Find a lost and
pretty thing.

 

*

Like the biology of cubes
in the kingdom of the
hog-nosed snake.
Xerox of the dismal swamp.
Xerography as study
of forms. At the bottom
of the sky as dot.