BALI

the last raja has been buried

there are no more – Bali lays dying

& will not be buried – the electricbells

of the 7^{th day Adventist bldg.}

ring through a microphone – nobody mourns

here the sun’s breath remains frozen about its mouth

 & the chilled

day suspended – just out of reach

mourning scent of dry pond

~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~

orioles were seen gathered about near to the ground

 this year

their food suddenly scarce – never have they flown so

full of care – spring – brings us no flowers

& the wind traveling the dust from desert

 to desert – as it always has done & always may

 has split the wood of my flute

the dust has drowned the water – the desert is aching

 like an old turtles belly

shelled with gnarling horn – no spot for seed to sprout

painfully await the blood to com – punctureweed

 jubilantly triumphs

so persistently it spreads the sand over alfalfa

jaguar cemeteries alongside superhighways

drivers curse these tumbleweeds when clumps of death

 like texas big spider they

attack automobiles furiously winding into windshields

peachfarmers have noticed punctureweed growing taller

 beneath their peachtrees

every dry little spine blown off that windy bush shall

 bloom

tomorrow children can no longer walk barefoot in this

 desert

~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~

bali lays dying

take my hand – I reach out

exiled estranged crippled are the dances & my feet

our children no longer love parades

camphorated fumes exhume the temples of our

 forecastles

slivers of earthquakes – stillwandering – nuns in dis-

 guise torment

the quiet brushstrokes of our landscape – tehachapie

 crewcut mountains

withering poppies & moldering moths tell of their secret

 passage

~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~

dog

lying in the path – a gaping cavity has split his belly

his head jerks – slowly he continjues eating from his

 own wound

refrain of illuminated fossil – my head is sprayed with

 dogblood

delicate skeleton

bring in the thinman – pus oozes from his eyes – beige

& tiny tailless monkeys shrieking – red – tufts of fur

rimming the eyes – scurry over his torso – grab & snatch

at the flesh of his long neck white – the claws

are clenched –the man moans – his eyes widening

with a neat rip monkeys tear off his eyelids

~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~

bali this is a longdistance call – I am a feverish room

 with rust in my throat

bali dies & here

the lakes are of kaolin returning the green sky like a

 butterfly

we be the island of the dead – scorched beneath the

 cicada’s whirr – dried

sweat – every night to die – every mourning beauty

 awakes

they come here – we see

them look at us – who have no watch & know

when they leave they will remember later the imploded

 oceandance

~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~~~§§~~

with secretgamalan eyes you see

me bali – far for you I lend my sighs

the desert – elbows incessant burnsmoke lament

 awaiting the world to incense

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