i am in the ukraine, working.

this is a pic from my last trip to ukraine. i would like to repeat this experience.

friendship

the mask

our beach, the beach's we

cast your weariness down the dune
and your dread into the shoals,
every pain you've ever felt
is scattered here and brought to ruin

those jagged shards of memory
encrusted on the hull of childhood
drop, polished to beads of glass,
smooth to touch -- hard to see

that dark oil ribboned tightly
to make wreckage of your lift
dissipates with whipping wind,
indifferent endless waves, and me

we'll return another time
to our beach, the beach's we,
numberless and unencumbered,
swirling grains within the brine

FOUR+LETR+WORD

PAIN#SAVE#HOUR#DRAW
HOME#LACK#CARE#LAND
WIND#TEAR#READ#LIVE
GONE$WHEN$PART$MORE
DEAR$LONE$LEFT$TREE
REAP%FALL%BURY%WILL
SONG%WING%HUNG%PAST
THEN\HERE\PAGE\STAY
WITH!RUST!TURN!FREE
LORD!BLUE!RAIL!DAMN
TAKE-FAST-WARN-ROAD
LIKE.FIRE.BACK.WEPT
WELL WAKE DEEP NECK

a jog

one time you went jogging down a footpath near your apartment building. it was a winding, dusty trail that led past slouching houses with dirty windows peering into darkened entry ways. it was broad daylight. you didn't jog too fast because you didn't know the path, and it turned quickly and grew wider or narrower as it slithered through the web of buildings, water pipes, rails, tiny courtyards, occasional streets. sometimes you saw old, lonely-looking people sitting in the houses, doing nothing, merely a glimpse. they seemed like ghosts or holograms, disconnected from the visceral sweaty run of life. you floated past them, they floated past you, trapped in the past. you were restraining your breathing and unconsciously reluctant to make heavy steps, to leave a trace of yourself, to even be seen. you didn't belong, but you were there. after the jog, returning to your apartment and stepping inside, you felt light, unpinned, as though your energy had been displaced. instinctively, you went to the living room to look out the window and see if anyone was running by or watching you. remember?

sea of fertility

floating across a waterless ocean

without maps for land

or charts for stars

i did all my best to smile

on a voyage out

to nothing from nowhere

dreaming off you all the while

the stillness breathes,

"sail with me ~ staaayyy freee"

slouching toward

backward countless miles

i play a game to pass the time

a silent song to speed me home,

"there is no ship

there is no land

there is no sky

there is no sea

there is no you

there is no me

there is no time

there is no is

there no

there

..."

and then

a stillness,

"sail with me ~ staaayyy freee"

floating across a waterless ocean

without maps for land

or charts for stars

i did all my best to smile...