Ten Cantos

I.

wave, O, harlequins

to the whores you precede

waiting and drinking

at the tables

before the cafe

II.

they are smoking

the carcass of a bull

who pitied the matador

and allowed him

to sink that blade

through a soft

segment of rib cage

III.

wave, gentlemen

to the women

you watch walking

while drinking coffee

and talking of business

IV.

O, pet this pack of dogs

separating at dusk

like homing missiles

and a few owners

eating dinner before the

television talking

of the work day

V.

tell a vision

or sing a song to the whore

that will collapse

the movement of her hips

for a moment

she is rocking the goddamned house

all over the place

while i'm trying to sketch

a nude portrait of her

with mother's ashes

VI.

O, if the threads

beneath your

anthill breasts

are wearing thin

then hate not

disappointment

and depression

for they are the 

only things that 

can be relied upon

VII.

O, lonely muse of mine

dance at the sensing of 

rattlesnakes in the cornfield

as a frantic marionette would

for you were thin

a skin skeleton

you helped me bring the horses in

each night

before we would sit and drink

at the dinner table

before we stood in the hot grass that day

looking at one another

before we parted

VIII.

sell me a beast

and i'll keep him

in the shed

so i can walk out there

in summer

to watch him

restrained and breathing

in the heat

IX.

O, woman lost

i swear to remember you

as always drunk

in the hotel room

finding your faith again

looking for the remote