3 Beach Poems

I write these four poems in Santa Monica on 8/14/08. The first two were written on a boardwalk bench looking out onto the ocean. The last one was written on a hotel couch.

I was there for a retreat. I was really tired.

1. Evening in the Rain Light

Sirens meant for singing
Poets primed for distance
Evening in the rain light
Listening to the music
It sounds like broken peace
It sounds like slipped up sleep
It creeps like coward kids
Crawling from the busted sphere
A hundred miles away from here
Sirens stuck in mid-song
Intended for the avalanche
Evening in the rain light
Listening to the wisdom
Of a hellish holy man
Shaggy and redemptive
Needing quiet, breathing loud
Creeping up the mountainside
Pretending that he never died


2. The Light Will Always Come

I tremble in fever
I'm not a believer
In fire and brimstone
In bodies of the holy
I stand for the universe
No blessing, no evil curse
I walk for the living
I walk for the dead
I'm the one with the finger
Pressed up at my head
Pushing the pain
Through the right temple
Back into my brain
There, it stays cushioned
And I can't see the spark for the trees
And I can't feel a thing in my legs
And I don't want to beg baby, I'm too proud
I don't want to hurt you or scream too loud
I know that the light will always come
I know that the light will always come


3. Jigsaw Puzzle

The next voice you hear
The next voice you hear
Will not be a familiar one
Will not be your sister
Will not be a garden gnome
But it might seem like
The high hat is twilight
I try to explain it
Its' easier not to bother
I couldn't contain it
Even if I tried, I usually don't
Let it go, let it come
Words - on trains, in cars, on foot
Words - in streets, on boardwalks, at home
Words busted and beautiful
I've got the fever dream today
Like that afternoon in '99
When the streets of Minneapolis
Were like old black cars and eiderdown
Today, here in Santa Monica
The sky is gray and broken
By a bright bright shiny light
By a flash soon gone, then back
Wait three hours and it will go black

The first voice I ever heard
The first voice I ever heard
Was of a man I'd never met before
And would never see again
I don't recall the context
I only know this:
Two words, two syllables each
"Jigsaw
Puzzle"
Breaking pictures only to struggle
To put them back together again
Like the bowling alley arms and shovel
Ten pinks back up again
Truth is your only friend

August 14, 2008