Shortwave

The shortwave warflag crackles 'cross shambles America!

Her hero hears with ears of weary work.

Ears of coppertone lullaby.

Ears of hear the baby cry.

Ears of "let that damn dog lie, he's gray and he's tired!"

Old Glories glaring.

Blaring heart attacks and slave-wage.

I kill on this page!

Murder in every word!

Time-words!

Space-words!

You and I-words!

Until we kiss.

Then we are made of silence.

Sweet, sucking breaths breathed from the belly of another world.

Curling Leviathan.

Death and life again.

Twisting angel wrapped in wire,

   perfect stranger made of fire

   and hesitation.

This is temptation.

This is evocation.

This is the ramification

   of jubilation

   the situation

   of grace.

Be Black

   in your face toward the world.

Be Black

   in your strongbones.

Be Black

   towards the light.

Be Blacker

   than night before the stars.

It is springtime Dionysus,

   cast your quilts away!

Stretch a feathered limb

   toward the tethered sky.

All my senses fly unto some final place.

I trace a Chinese pace through this green garden.

I race my own grace,

   one step ahead of salvation.

Lost in the translation.

Word and Flesh.

Wish and Bone.

River and Stone and

The Sun flashes upon the Water.

All of this and none of this.

Paradise and Apocalypse.

Then kiss these lips and depart.

The memory will comfort me,

   but this presence is more than I can bear.

I'll tear it all apart!

This heart and all the rest!

The crest of a slave on an unknown wall.

Crooked scars and injustice.

How many cars must this road roll before it shakes

    America from its shoulders?

How much older must I be before my own prophecy makes sense to me

   and I begin to behave like some believing Isaiah?

What d'ya say you and I get outta here

   and find some brand new thing to shine for us?

Some shiny new thing

   that will make everything fine for us

   for a little while.

Some perfect song to sing

   to bring us to a new place,

   where you have a new face

   and I have new eyes to see with.

Agree with me

   even if you don't.

Tell me what I want to hear

   and then tell me some more.

Tell me what's in store.

Ruin all the surprises.

It's for my own good.

This ship is made of wood, but the rudder is bleeding blood.

Leaking out in all directions,

   freaking out I've lost connection and it's all

   Vertigo and Nausea now.

The hammer lies by the nailing tree.

Jesus plays piano painfully,

   quiet and soft.

Red White and Black.

Ham on Rye.  Butter on a flapjack.

Cigarettes and onions.

A loud voice and a greazy handshake.

Make a bet with me and I will blow your fuckin' mind.

Lets talk money,

   'cause all that cash makes me hard and furious.

Curious pornography flickers.

Eyes tight.

Mouth wide.

A scream inside that never comes out.

I hate myself just enough to love you.

G-L-O-R-I-A

G-L-O-R-I-A

G-L-O-R-I-A

GLORIA! GLORIA! IN EXCELSIS DEO!

Daylight come and I wanna go home again!

I am stoned, like some smiling Magdalene!

I'll never be sad again,

   dead to this world

   and the next

   and a hex on the veil!

I rail against this nail in my hand!

I draw a line in the sand and refuse to fight!

The ungraceful, ungrateful facade of Athena!

Christ was a sex-blood orgasm!

Christ was a war chasm splitting at the seems of the world!

Christ was unloved and outside

   of the great metallic doorway.

Outside of the big black wall.

Beyond the pallor of the gallery hall.

Shallow in the green water at the edge of the wave,

   slaves sang chain gang clangs in the echoes of this long-ago night.

I am dying here and

   living too and

   all the same despite old records

   and window shades.

Close the door.

You can be my friend

   in this shiny black rain.