The Willow Psalms

I Fields of trees, we travel gravel and paved roads by fields and fields dried and dead as Toledo. Yellowing with speed, each branch the shadow of a larger one. II Yesterday’s life was a short drive to a wedding reception where everyone was happy drunk in the garden. III Remember the old poets with the last laugh blues, moustaches, delusions. The music is turned off, don’t think about it, don’t think about it. IV You are only sick if you enjoy the taste of the poison. The well is deep and there’s plenty of rope. V Do not worry about the snail in the bucket. His shell has crusted to the steel, he is now part of the bucket and has been asleep for years. VI Forgetting is an easy memory for those always looking forward. Young poetry is skinny, but remember one psalm in the shade of the willow; to be; not for ourselves, but for others. To be; not for ourselves, for others. VII We were made to live without grid-iron incisions, to make love in the backyard of every country, to feed lions, to sleep on shorelines, to be more like blackbirds; wise enough to sing in the sun and less like wolves, sharpening their teeth on the side of stones. VIII The devil is a defeatist too, always the first in line, wipes his mouth on his sleeves. Even the billion-dollar hotel has bedbugs in the wood of its walls. IX Waiting is not simply counting the clock, finding the pattern of ring stains in hardwood flooring, or disappearing into the weather. Wait like a waiter deserving of a grand-baby piano tip. X Art is not satisfied, abandon your mind and speak in coma. Seek black fly poetry, Egyptian mascara. Whatever you do, do not fall asleep angry. XI If you live your life the last in line walk far as the sole wears, smile, love strangers for being strange, love as friends about to meet and remember jazz grooves indiscriminately. XII Beware of fools who argue simply for the taste of their own tongues, from a distance you are them, they are you. XIII Profound what? Sell your teeth to beggars with broken dentures and let them teach you the meaning of an empty mouth.