Shutter the mind
the fog..the coastal misery of its fingers digging into warmth
everyone laughed at grunge
but wait for a bus in Washington State with its welded screens
and gated doors...Log trucks idling throaty at the lights
and the neon advertisements for the thirsty and the lost
loathsome floatsam living beneath bridges
cooking on propane and briquettes

Everyone dreaming of hopping trains to warm Cali...
but someone younger...harder..the acrobat thief
whom brought creamer litre of flavored whitener
and for a time all you could smell in the salted
air of cedars pine and logging piles were those
scents.....went too sleep like christmas egg nog
on your breath...

the acrobat came back....starved said cali was
burning....beaten by the railroad bulls one arm
hung useless for a time...but the jail dudes got
the acrobat back...stole her eggs and venom
for the vicious pride...fuel for her fire they said
and kept her in their tents....magik works its
wonders...
she softened become quicker...looked like
a polish madonna
and grew a child in her short stature
before the damp winter fell
moved to a shelter away from the
sporadic hell and makeshift three ply
landscape

Jimmy the Meek went over
collected all the radios and smashed
them.....I gave him mine but the batteries
worn out a week before
he held it in his hands a long time
it was an older model
"We must not trust" he muttered
and I hugged him and his tears
ran but his mind was off somewhere

no one cared...the I pods we recharged
from park station outlets were good
and cellies
everyone wore hoodies.....it was cold
and little black gloves
because the big ones they could pull
from you...

and the fog drew in
dripping from the fly on your
tent and box
your quilts and bubble wrap
and smouldering campfire
saltwater morning wash
while traffic in its rush ran
over the pavement above
your head...

D'angelo.....
we grooved together
before I moved she had me
collect driftwood
said it was best for visions
and I didnt mind
lest I saw of the banana slugs
the better
lest I saw of what I saw cast
off in the ditches and blights
behind buildiings even more

I caught a job working washing
dishes
in a chinese place dont ask
me how
I think the jail boys posted me
there when they were feeding
the acrobat

put the dishes in the tray
run down the door
the hose
and scrub
a buffet

cigarettes were a
luxury and they
gave me ginseng
tubes
were worried

the mountians
were visions
behind the wires
and haze and trapped
factory traffic smog
when I could I would
lug home Rainer Beer
and BC weed from a
bass player I knew

she was always giving
me new socks
her grandad was a vet
from nam

the radio silence was good
all we knew was the drips
of rain and coughing
and sleeptalking screaming
of all about...we knew each
other like a litter of pups
whom was in
whom was out

how did I escape...
I got pneumonia
was pissing blood
my torn jeans
and fave hoodie and
special rare T they
threw away
from the blood I was
coughing up

a pile of firewood
the tourists found me

every family I find
something finds me
away

I would have loved
to have died with them
then released to
this

a bunk bed and window
new clothes
I miss my radio
cause I used to dance
to it....
but dont tell no one

not even the acrobat

...