#87

3/16/98--#5

     Male Man

"Like the bee, we distill poison from honey for our self-defense--
what happens to the bee if it uses its sting is well known."
--Dag Hammarskjold

	1.

Buzzing from box to box
in his toy truck,
pollinating me
like a bee
with another delivery.

	2.

How like a sting
this bill,
this impersonal thing,
this lack 
of correspondence.

	3.

The mellifluous mail,
a sticky kiss
from the female carrier,
skinny as can be,
this postal queen bee. 

	4.

Bewail that email
eliminates the postal drone,
the snail, laboring in the honeycomb.
Who will answer
this pregnant phone?

#88

3/13/98--3/17/98---#6

     Porcine Porcelain

"The best things can't be said."--Heinrich. Heine

	1.

The china pig, 
presiding on 
the old man's porch, 
fell to the floor.
An alabaster disaster 
it was, because 
he was full of 
pennies from heaven,
given to him
by none other 
than God himself, 
who can't stand
carrying them 
in his pockets 

either.

	2.

A messenger came, 
in a copper 
helicopter,
a collector 
of wishes from 
the lucky stars,
birthday candles, 
and fountains in 
public places.
He turns pieces
into Pisces,
Humpty Dumptys
into fish and
spices, with 

his gospel glue.


#89
     
3/16/98----3/18/98---#5

     Lies lie  

"As truth goes forward, lies die."--L. Ron Hubbard

Lies lie
dying 
in the 
field dyed 
red with 
the blood 
shed by 
the Truth
unread.

#90
     
3/2/98----3/19/98----draft#8

     Listening to Glistening

"Summoned or not summoned, the gods will be present."
     --Oracle at Delphi

The minuet of the minute
particles of dust.  The ballet 
inside what I would like to say
to a particular drop of dew
at dawn.

The unsuspecting newspaper
is caught off guard in the front yard
as it exudes the nude vapor.
Hitting snooze, the clock begins to
ooze sleep

Like booze, the same sensation 
and condensation I feel 
as life congeals around the locks
of morning hair...waking up next
to you.