HEARD
tear me off a restaurant match
and accompany me to my Ohio apartment
you can man the extinguisher
while I burn the bureau brightly
drawers snapping like summertime
in the Spanish air of my youth
I am not a frightened page
but a resentful jealous friar
widely known for the company I keep
and the kerosene flask
nailed proudly across my chest
from that wound I bleed fuel
but you run on perfumed scrolls
souvenirs I once kept secret
crated beneath the hickory
with the hot wind and the airy tide
their kindled ash takes flight lightly
moved by public purpose
to a most displeasing end
my cross and supper spent years ago
whilst a mere
suffragan bootlicker
it’s come down to vaccination
against the potential to regress
through the marriage absconded
and the crackle of a campfire
I bless thee born again
so trust in my scarlet lunacy
for beyond midnight
we will pile these planks high