There’s a bee in my honey,
Tarantula in my pumpkin soup,
Rattlesnake in my Cheerios.
I want one more breath before drowning,
A kiss before the guillotine,
Cup of violet tea before the train wreck.
Pink lightning forks the Destin night sky.
How to keep the Florida stars from breaking?
Yesterday smells like octopus sushi
After a day in the sidewalk sun,
201 wet cigarettes in a beer bottle.
Judas takes his German Shepherd, Russ
On an icy vacation to inhospitable Mars.
The dog gets cat-scratch fever.
Judas gets beaten up in bars.
I do not want a kiss before the guillotine!
I want to walk
The kaleidoscopic orchid gardens
Of Saint Robert’s Monastery for the blind.
I want to pluck dragon’s head lily
Rocket launch daisies, batwing heliotrope
And moonlight chrysanthemums
From the caution-posted forest
And scan the willow bark with my fingers
For an answer carved in Braille.
I want to watch the monks build sandcastles
And buy the hummingbird cake they baked
And write your name
On a request for intercessory prayer.
Gotham is burning and no one can save it.
Pow! Bang! Oomph!
A comic book falls out of the trash.
Stunningly beautiful women in cages.
I don’t worry so much why you bought it
As I contemplate why you threw it away.
The only thing that was true?
The dog cries bourbon tears and floods the house
Because no one is home when you are home.
She eats the window sills, breaks down the fence,
Gnaws down the orange tree.
You stroll the aisles of Sears for tools
To repair her destruction.
She is helpless to repair yours.
I would like to buy back a vowel,
Solve the riddle of the tangled sheets.
Quicksand is the scourge
Of Bent Arrow Drive
Killing slowly with every attempt to escape.
Now you know how it feels to be eaten alive.
There’s a bee in my honey, a stinger in my tongue.
My fault for dining at your silent table.
Only you could blacken an angel.
