13 Jun 2010, 8:39pm
Writing
by David

leave a comment

Like briars on a broken highway

You turn the wash skillet
And I am going…

I bike to Mentryville there is
An old house there
An old school and oil pumps

Pepper trees on the path
Then sage
And marigold?

I wonder what these are—
Flowers inside the canyons
Are new to me

The sun isn’t new
But it’s late not early
The sun is going

Down
Down
In and around Mentryville

The first oil was discovered here
In the 1870s
Now it’s all dirty and broken

Pump parts and sulfur
Abandoned things
You find in these canyons

Ahead is a broken highway—
Washed out by a flood once
Now covered with thick briars

I wonder
If I took a picture of this
Would you still want me?

13 Jun 2010, 8:38pm
Writing
by David

leave a comment

dream-bike-reverie

Lover, an apartment
Loving the flavors of someone
Peach and green and tan
Are the pastels
Lost in the prints that you could not name/master
No color
Dust from your arms

This town is new to me and I see it
Feel it
Cold in the morning
I go out for a ride on my bicycle
Up and down the paseos
Into the neighborhoods

The houses sit like this | |
The days are rich
The sun sheer as cut glass

I could go back to my place and make a sandwich
Or I could call you

My best friend tells me

Santa Clarita
Newhall, Valencia

Like names in the mind
The whole valley is glittering with them

27 Jan 2003, 7:46pm
Writing
by David

leave a comment

From the Archive:
myth, that gold thing

the stalk the leaf the branch
the freakish lambswool the sun color
the ruin the organizer of ideas

the accompanier of spice
the attribute of rule
the touch turned everything to

the spiritual outlook
the beat the airy thinness
the glitter up the foil down

the solid
the standard the hard currency
the theoretical l’argent

the retort baby
the baroque equivocator
the lamé glitter

the powder the dust
the fine flake on a rosebush
the fool’s fire the philosopher’s crush

the page-edge
the gilt manners the wretched
the thumb rubber the shiny thing

the dull clump
the good conductor
the plug on a good wire

the shaft the wheat
the cornsilk the ear
the anything cereal

the nib the tissue ivy
the clot the piss the untouched
the representative blight

the smear the ingot
the filigree and its stone mother
the brilliant impact

the ghost the crown
the thought struck into matter to hallow it
the splendor the allegiance to

the unseen significance
the plate the mind
the forgive me the wheel

the heat the lion’s jaw
the thing the mane is
the shiver the long questionable shorthand

the crowd, untruth

7 Jun 2010, 2:24pm
Other
by David

leave a comment

Avatar Review Issue 12

The new issue of Avatar Review is now online. Read it here.

30 May 2010, 1:52pm
Writing
by David

leave a comment

One of the first love songs

Why are arms so naked
They are the best part of people
Nude, elongated, and fleshy
Coiled and muscular
Tan

And when clothed the arm has rigidity
It lends strength to orders
It pushes the hand to destiny
This too is good

But I like the other end of the arm
The underneath where it meets the body
This part of the arm can be coarse and slick
It can be soft and smooth
Either way it is the truth of the arm
One of two truths

If I could touch you there
It would be something to celebrate

20 Mar 2010, 9:08am
Other
by David

leave a comment

I’ve got a poem in the current issue of Arch.