The Invisible Man

I try to hold the space

In which you were

Just yesterday

Your fingers on my lips

Have left me

Gasping for air even now

You’re gone

And all the world

Can see right through me:

Without you 

There’s a hole

Where I used to be.

Joshua

With the glow of the sunset 

in his eyes

he resembles most a dark lion

placed across oceans and time

onto this rugged coast.

His manes shaking in wild cartwheels

his roar of silk

his ears of gentle understanding.

Here is Joshua:

striding, playing, running

on an Asian Beach.

His smile is broad and white.

Mexicaanse Hond

De mezcal in mijn fles

veranderde langzaam van kleur

met het naderen van de avond.

Nu, in het kwijnende licht van de zon,

lijkt mijn worm

in een bodempje bloed te drijven.

In een stad ver van hier

heft Chihuahua

zijn bek naar de rijzende maan,

ik huiver,

want zijn etherisch gehuil

klinkt als muziek uit mijn radio.

Deuce

Two mountains and two poplars

The morning and the night

A tree of gold

A tree of blood

A field of waving cobwebs

A yellow ball

A scarlet ball

Caught for just a moment

Two mountains and two poplars

The sun laughs at their game

Gerard Hates Jazz

Tear this cruel gypsy heart
out of my rib cage.
Rip that poisonous sax-serpent
from my trembling hands.

Let me sit here
next to this tiny bed
with a bloody hole in my chest
with rotting fingers.

Let me sit here

staring at the light
that shines through
the ear of my son.

Jazz Club ‘The Poppy’ Approaches a Black Hole

Daffy, the leader 

of the yellow brass section,

swings his stamen

to the rhythm of the wind.

Bees in pinstripes 

get a buzz out of

booze flowing from flowers

on the borders of the known universe.

The lark goes down in style

and sings the blues

while falling from the sky

into the throat of the black hole.

Ray

Cosmic sting straight to the heart

Struck!

X-Ray-X

If it would help

I’d pray Ray

I’d pray for the explosive nature

Of your nuclear kisses Ray

Wow, the magic mushrooms

Of your bright eruptions

Ripping up horizons

Shredding clouds

Evaporating rain

Rain-Ray-Rain

I bow for you Ray

For your beauty Ray

Bow-Ray-Bow

Rainbow Ray, golden Ray,

Your colours 

Shine right through me Ray.

You hit me.

You struck me

With your cosmic sting Ray.