Borderline

remember and
fore see yourself

a thousand miles or so this Earth
spins about each hour of our lives

in each hour the Earth will pace
sixty-seven thousand miles

further round this star our sun
which will itself in this one hour

sling four-hundred eighty-six thousand
miles along with this stellar arm

embracing the fathomless black hole
center of the Milky Way galaxy

and everything that is beyond
wheresoever it comes from

everything else in this universe
wheresoever it goes

is moving at a constantly accelerating rate
away from everything

and so it comes and so it goes
and we must steer we who veer

and so remember
fore see yourself


LEVEL ONE DONE

yes it gets a little schizy
just trying to take it all in

through these windows floating
before us so darkly

words and worlds flashing crashing
significans significata

did you notice the delicate string
of plutonium pearls draped

over the moonrock display
up there on the mezzanine

PASSING THROUGH LEVEL TWO

whirligig gog and magog
the global economy

colorful bullets strike deep
in both eyes

what good sweet tortures
these umbilical discords

we must learn early on
our terrorist cruelties

rogue state road rage
tweak or be tweaked

for war is constant here
among the inner planets

you can make it
if you can take it

cloak yourself
cloak yourself

THIS IS LEVEL THREE

three direct hits and poof
bud you're stardust

you're history until
the system upgrades

your history fades
your heat dissipates





and here to the west
of the west of things

electromagnetized clouds have formed
out of endless intentionalities

powerplays and replays precipitate
freefalling codes like dust

over the great Pacific basin
settling through our ceilings and walls

the numbers of the life sentencings
of the hungers and of the cleansings

six billion of us suddenly
in a single lifespan

congeal with a peal of bells
with more to come and I say

here's one for our kind and
here's one for all species

in the thicket around here
where the vines reign wild

in the dampness and
in the morning dew

and remember
fore see yourself





I remember how Dawn
gold and lavendar

first filled my eyes today
and lingered most silky

on my warm fingertips
seasalt scent and sage





I see moonjellies throbbing
through the submarine canyon

a mighty dive o elephant seal
come morning glories

the killer bees are coming
honeysuckle come

bonobos you come too
let us liken unto the lichen

o crocodile how reliable
come to the cypress forest

cicadas in droves orchestral
with these volatile texts erupt

flaming tongues flare aloft
the pentecostal chorus

forms atwirling whirling there
around the periphery

maybe the trapeziasts next
since the whole planet is in reach

watch the hot lava oozing between
the cracks in Calcutta streets

orange subterranean arteries
redden the soles of Maasai feet

leaping up leap up leap up
everything is in touch

everything that is everything
is flaming forth burning up

spinning out remember
fore see yourself




we are all in orbit
all of us in orbit right now

we find ourselves dreaming
we are dreaming together

cymbals zithers gongs
however it came to be

this way this now
this here this we

incandescent
and face to face

I see your brows
I see your gaze

through aeon's end
and right this moment

the question I feel
is what

yes we are
prepared to give

this blaze this feast
whatsoever yes

we are prepared
to live this long

this well
this deep

July 1999