Drew Gardner
MILK CRATE
sounds didn't matter
distant cat screech
smeared lights
happen and are gone
leaving space for something
new, one sitting in the
window sill, one darting
between garbage cans,
afraid of me--
a strange woman cries, holding
candy, returns to the inside
the door like a knothole
in a wish
reincarnate yourself
unreal woman or man
there are not even waves
to chew relation
the leaves lit up by street
lights, a piece of furniture
left on the curb
to hold it
pick it up
where you left off
THE ERRAND
the sun's extinction in a gaze
is read between the night and breath
passing over rough concrete unseen
a figure came through
the door, the plate glass window
about to fall, words continue
spiraling among strangers
it is not up to me
to control the screeching brakes
screaming teenage girls
at the Virgin Mega-store
how could it be that only
yesterday the floods were
boldly taking up the sky?
a memory broken loose provides
I am not who I was before
cooling in the newer air
right up against the energy
for work, the sheets of world
to understand
a deluge,
playing without restraint
in the street
WATCH CRYSTAL LUDICROUS PRACTICE
watch crystal ludicrous practice
that's where the birds drink their water
the flames seen through the wall's cracks
traffic gurgles, things
you never want to be
looking in the wrong direction
expecting
I left a bunch of
unsaid things to rot
smashed peaches--
turn off the radio
underneath the flood
the acceptance is on fire
soon to be born
overcast answer
wearing it
the hell out of town
A COMPLEX INSTRUMENT
a complex instrument
trapped in years
grateful the straw
baskets chosen
disintegration off a
vaporous wall
the unease of premeditated love
quickly absorbed
the present reality
shadow over history
private awakening
spelled out
layers of impossible sun
as a homeland
the crack in the surroundings
publicly invited
before the exigencies of chosen
image continue past
the defiant shoreline
describes itself
doesn't quite exist
and to everyone's surprise
begins--
CICADAS
your whole life wheeling through
installments, waits around
happy dog--do you know
where the candle store is?
a nasty school / is the fucked mind
resisting on its way back--
but maybe the resistance
proves more valuable
a window lets in air
in someone else's wish
to change it for the better
how are you supposed to measure
can afford a growing fire escape
raffles off the cycles for naivete'
green lake in the part of you
that doesn't exist yet
as nourishment
hornets use the crosswalk
swim through asphalt
between the wobbling shifts
of people-- a strong laugh
held up a glass
to look through
to hold it with
a loved one
underneath the branches
of an expensive mistake
DON'T OPEN
what does the dust on the stereo mean?
flung example, scar tissue
a basket that is anybody's guess
pick up the things you've dropped
while you were still in motion
I was worrying too much
about finding the right kind of paper
a heater hibernating in an August sun
the reflection is
more mobile
than the thing reflected
though far more brittle
as much as the desire deterred it
huge slabs of cork
be careful, unwanted force of nature
doing the dishes in the afternoon
to make room
the whole earth isn't
covered in Gore-tex
PAST DUE
at 9:11 the sun disappeared completely
the drugs to stay alive with
lit-up, if you become it
and use the chance
the insane laughter is still
where you last saw
a dragonfly above the ripples of fear
turned off the fire
covering this person
when the cat freaked-out, though
it keeps me just as warm
its does contain a certain commitment
instead of changing
to star-69 the gull above
the reservoir, these arrivals
in the shapes of a cup
a space of sweet fraternal love
like sunlight though a number
without sweating its memory
or plans too much, open
and free, though kind of
crowded, all that sun
means something else
can't just live on food
that never goes bad
some really good food
goes bad very quickly
as a patch of unrealized work
bites you gently on the ass
BELLS
It's not through the window
it's through the sediment
the subway's flooded out
more clearly, or
the potting soil, depending
on where you land, happy
home, useless thing, darkness
or success, the carbohydrates
prove a sudden embrace
up the rickety bamboo
rungs to get back
to the stage before the music ends
a memory of grasses
changes each time its called
like a digital delay
on love and misunderstanding
creeping vines or watchband
interaction, you figure it out
where you least expected it
AUTO REVERSE
get it as clear in your head as you can
at first, restricted valence,
ephemeral catwalk
neither created nor destroyed
from the annihilation of mass
the power of the stars
lit up
from the lungs to the tissues
make a cut to start it
then it's easy to tear
letters scratched into glass
try to remember
to firewood, the distance
between the feelings and the plans
charged particles, the certain knowledge
that deals with acid
when combustion of consciousness
departed behind an act
a moth changes back into a caterpillar
the strata of motivation ingested
differently towards these productions
to suture your own substance
on the level-- continue on
nothing doing, make room
for the chrysalis, the stupid
skull inside the head--
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