even enigmas deserve farewells

i. this was a journey I never intended

after the weeping bride was ushered from dust,
she came and returned,
through the bad hair infinities of catholic statues:

creepy, creepy, creepy.

and, then, she wrapped a lacquered box of ashen remains
into a lengthy scarf of lacy bone and fussy linen,

speaking that funny breath which only lives on widows-

I held my brotherly weep
through the ceremony of silly hats and silk,
through the chanting of a veil,
but released it gladly
for the scarlet processional
of black turned white:

but only
but only

because ten was ten on sale just now beneath keyser avenue
in an extraordinary discount on red hot sausages,

that barked surreal on that ordinary august day-

they were offered in scarlet hand on sidereal cardboard:

I could not suggest out loud while sweltering
through the summer sweat of tiny purple falcons
that esoteric naming was an unnatural act for me,
reserved so I thought, for that moment of grace,
when the pale monsignor and his swarthy minion

made the basilica of st. anne smoky fresh with myrrh.

having heard about this anne,
I decided to make a K-turn.


ii. every body comes from somewhere

a grave observance of boneyard maintenance,
was softly trumped by blades sharpened but barely used
on the majestic green carpet so prophetically deaf
to a funereal gurgle that prospered on rhythmic hills:

she said lock, I said open-

this was the world before fire.

iii. the pressing reception of endless sorry

by you, I held a hand of scarlet,

rusty graves forming the flushed push of red parapets:

this is where our choices narrow into marshy deltas,

into the thin promise of a gaunt and yellowed family tree
and thirsty purple pistils with a perky greeting card font-

snookered by the scenic overlook that takes me hoom [sic].

this sweet low lumbering beneath a city of unexpected
charcoal cave-ins and the moaning black of carbondale.

the relish-drenched offering of discount dogs,

offered like anything else in life,
an end at the start and a start at the end.

I especially liked the corner cabinet of sacred oils
with its endless neon flashing:

save me is just so beatifying.