CROW HAIKU
April 5, 2013 § 1 Comment
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painted in a corner the crow licks the brushes
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the crow talks to ghosts with his hand in his pocket
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your daughter can pretend she doesn’t hear the crow
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no one knows where he sleeps the crow’s got no blanket
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after your war the crow sends a letter to his son
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you can kick him but you can’t kick the crow
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4:04:13
CROW HAIKU
March 27, 2013 § Leave a comment
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the crow often walks at angles
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the crow bites his tongue finds he has two
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under the crow’s feathers nobody knows his skin
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he gets itchy the crow grows hungry for blackberries
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who can take the crow talk to the seagulls
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the crow never sleeps but he makes you tired
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if the crow dances you better watch out
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at the station the crone always finds the crow
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he says maybe he really means no the crow
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3:25:13
2.14.13
February 18, 2013 § 3 Comments
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no
matter
what
I
fuck
up
the
daffodils
come
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(for John Martone)
CHRIS GORDON lost & found times 41 (1998)
January 27, 2012 § Leave a comment
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thick hailstones in April I keep swallowing my tail
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all these lights they’re humming uncomfortable in every position
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no continuous skyline the relentless efficacy of breasts
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behind the buildings the lake obscured by fog downstairs they’re fighting
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balled up in the shower her wet dress the soughing darkness
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wood smoke in the warm afternoon the deaf woman talks to herself
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she whispers in another language the intermittent rumble of the elevator
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a blue door tied down to the top of a car the smell of cut grass
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not much to say there’s a helicopter
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The Martian Chronicles read over the phone unsteady hand-jobs
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too windy for a hat sheets of newspaper slap the chain-link fence
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dream hungry the call of a crow on the telephone pole
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saxophone practice upstairs the machine fills with water
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in the brief blue flash of the train’s light on the tunnel wall abhor
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slowing down you can smell yourself
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CHRIS GORDON ant ant ant ant ant five
January 24, 2012 § 1 Comment
SHE ROUSES BRIEFLY AND SAYS DRAGONFLY
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distance acquiesces to heat you tell the fly he’s ephemeral
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the vents are being replaced I touch your drink by mistake
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where the lines end and the absence begins an architecture or so
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abruptness of seed taking orders from the smaller machines
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I get on top of you they start playing a commercial
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an eye tuned to the scrape of a chair an ambulance
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milt of friction the ring where the ring keeps the light from her skin
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pea on the trajectory of a scratch I will be a Ghost Dance
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all along the tracks splintered shapes swelling in the rain
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we talk about our childhood TV shows as if they were festivals
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moon a tear made in the sky with a fingernail don’t answer the door
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in the dream I was Danae waiting for a drip from the ceiling
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that dark thing in the green of your eye next to the window that’s me
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tensile strength of thistle the outcome of serotonin and loophole
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where she points at the red flower I don’t see anything
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we both wind up in the fruit aisle one of the lights above blinks out
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tell me what we’ll do on a bench by the river when no one’s around
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soaking in a jar for three days the beans are pink and ready to split
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aren’t all prophesies self-fulfilling sugar written in Spanish
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the oven opens to the smell of sweet potatoes your panties
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her ringed fingers twitching she rouses briefly and says dragonfly
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an act of transcription closes the flower travel a violence
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we exhaust the five hundred gimmicks like metal eucalyptus leaves
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my face a trapdoor spider candy foil floats along the dark train floor
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Lyric Intervention painted over All Day I Dream About Sex
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all the slurring and none of the puncture no I said sects
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weeds as tall as roses what I threw out the window when we fought
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between the cars of the train her body turns from yellow to blue
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a plum seed flushed down the toilet they found the arctic’s melted
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if this were an espionage film we’d all be dead
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CHRIS GORDON ant ant ant ant ant ten
December 20, 2011 § Leave a comment
Cucumbers Are Related To Lemons
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you return with
a second bottle it’s cheaper
and goes with fewer foods
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an automated message
from the library
it cheers me up
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tucked in her back
pocket a pink packet
of artificial sweetener
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looking at the veins on
your hands I think about
the planet Neptune
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on the blanket on
the grass a few magazines
their different odors
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waking in a strange bed
without my pants
a seagull at the window
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above the bowl of
apples a mosquito
slow from the blood
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swollen in the shallow
creek a novel open
near the center
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a love letter to
the butterfly gods with
strategic misspellings
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dusk turns gray and
hazy and breaks off into
several angry girls
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the pill in my pocket
looks smaller
than it did this morning
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the breakfast special
missing a few letters
not quite spring
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at the urinals
we talk about our allergies
the war loses ground
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a weed in bloom where
the fence’s torn back
the links gleam
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the rain sounds
different when I lean my
head against your head
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the fly that kept me
up all night I find
him on the shelf
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in the parking lot she
notices the two notes
stuck to my door
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in a small white bowl
the lentils
no one is going to cook
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looped over itself
once a rubberband in
the drinking fountain drain
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the smell of heather under
the bridge the black water
makes no sound
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she says it’s like
eating a pecan after
having walnuts
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one tied to the other
a pair of shoelaces
floating down the river
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it’s been about
a year she suggests
you take a vitamin
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when I look back
the light is gone from
the blue pine
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your sock in the corner
of the closet a thin shoot
sprouting from it
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the office at midnight
a grain of rice
in my chair
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one light on at
the laundromat a blue towel
left on a dryer
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while he’s talking
to the cop she
eats his hot dog
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its view obstructed
by blossoms the room
a little darker
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we barely speak
she leaves me a pear
she picked on a farm
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just beyond the reach
of the light the plum
sags on one side
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I meet the twin she
never mentioned the mist
lit briefly by the sun
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the doctor’s office
a magazine left open
face down on the couch
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blown down by the wind
stiff white washcloths
holding their shape
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the blue jays have a spat
some cherry pits left on
a three of spades
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the girls on the bus
discuss places
on their bodies
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a headline declares
the war goes badly the red
umbrellas closed up
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on the toilet she
mentions that cucumbers are
related to lemons
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in the dust in
the corner the curling
tops of tea packets
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reading the lives
of great people I shave
a little more frequently
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pieces of the moth
that got stuck in the envelope
slide out
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lit briefly by
headlights a tree at
the edge of the woods
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other analogous
rifts in your story
about the plums
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the slow guy who
just got fired he asks me
if I’ve seen a bear
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the lump in the pillowcase
a pair of her panties
I’ve never seen
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we get home from
our trip the brown crayon
we left on the table
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the hand that always
aches a girl wants to talk
about long division
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in the old peppermint
tin pencil shavings we
argue about pronouns
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the anguish of snails
something to do with
fluorescent light
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a screen door slams
shut the scent of
approaching rain
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left on her desk
three paper cups
each with a little water
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warm rain the homeless
guy offers me a cookie
from his pocket
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my landlord who doesn’t
like crows she opens
the door without knocking
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a cool August evening
in the shopping cart
some crushed daisies
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following me from room
to room a gnat tries
to get in my mouth
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a note from ten
years ago says you’re
going to the store
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a patch on the road
where the streetlight’s out
the sound of moths
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rug burns on my knees
I feel them in line
at the post office
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a chair on fire
in the dumpster melts
the snow as it falls
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some noise in
the dark kitchen it
must be the potatoes
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CHRIS GORDON year of the fire horse
September 30, 2011 § Leave a comment
Divine Craft
The Chinese Astronauts
Were all born in
The same fortuitous year
Their wives dress
Like stewardesses
The Chinese Astronauts
The President behind glass
To keep his germs from
The Chinese Astronauts
Made in foreign countries
Their suits are different
The Chinese Astronauts
When they hear
Helicopters it’ll be time
The Chinese Astronauts
Their hands fumble at
Pockets that aren’t there
The Chinese Astronauts
The moon is neither
Full or empty to
The Chinese Astronauts
The Chinese Astronauts
Remain outside for
About 13 minutes
If the clouds recede
We’ll be able to see
The Chinese Astronauts
The payload is still
A mystery to
The Chinese Astronauts
The Chinese Astronauts
Aren’t able to touch
Their own faces
Carried from the capsule
The Chinese Astronauts
Sit in blue fold-out chairs
Back at their day jobs
The Chinese Astronauts
Remember weightlessness
CHRIS GORDON raw nervz haiku
April 27, 2011 § Leave a comment
Misprint
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in the headlights new slats on the fence your mole occluded
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covering the freeway a truck load of pumpkins magpie is a crow
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after plucking hairs from my ear the tea tastes different
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sweat from the questionable meat the monster saves the day
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apparently she decided against underwear the figs gone bad
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an unfamiliar taste to your finger what happens to the crickets
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the next day you remember Buzz Aldrin the pool closed for repairs
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in the shower I make the water hotter and notice the fly
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slow becomes owls wind a mystery with zippers
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she’s kicked me out at the fountain they discuss local politics
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after we’ve met my wife introduces us
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on a seat at the bus station torn panties some old pills
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I don’t feel the fly on my thumb sequel dubbed in English
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a misprint in her body language tear open the air to black seeds
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pale skin where the strap rested dishes drift in the sink
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trying to avoid you I run into you even more
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newspaper machines stuffed with clothing the parking lot a pond
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it hovers then flies back at me what I spit out
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objects fall the definition of silver wavers slightly
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twisting in a swing she talks on the phone about her butt
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Raw Nervz Haiku X:2
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CHRIS GORDON A Guide To Haiku For The 21st Century (1997)
April 20, 2011 § Leave a comment
Everything Comes But The Bus
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the countenance of the little girl muted distant televisions
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a purple evening in the window she folds her underwear
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snagged on the rock the water going out with the tide
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on the edge of the paper an ant the smell of rain without the rain
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diving into the shudder of darkness maybe this time
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lunacy a lost poem about an acetylene torch
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doppelganger spring a drawer of sex toys and failed medicines
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willow leaves drag against my scalp I can’t see her eyes
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morning thick and humid they forgot to turn off the streetlights
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ducks break the surface in the dark blurry crescent moons
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she’s in the shower an airplane crosses the darkness in the trees
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wind stirs the wind chimes on the porch there’s a fire
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clapping my hands I kill a mosquito find it was a moth
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the drip down the back of her thigh a mourning dove calls
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the brown dusk held by algae blooms an egret’s feather
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he washes his feet in the lake the cormorants their wings
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sheets soaked her hand draws away from my breath
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brief warm spell over thumping the outside of the pane the flies
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putting on my glasses gnats hover above my face
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weeks later her sweet voice it’s just a machine
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visible only in the shaft of light a fly her crumpled clothes
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the full moon low a dead tree its seed cones
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the dark shape of a spider wrapping a moth it starts raining
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the smell of garbage cans she asks me to keep her ring anyway
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imagining her with someone else behind the blinds the moon
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my cold foot steps on her bra still warm
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rain louder than thoughts everything comes but the bus
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still sick the tree shadows as real as the trees
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dressing afterwards her voice hardens
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winter again in my coat pocket a strand of her hair
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selected by Hiroaki Sato for A Guide to Haiku for the 21st Century (Gendai Haiku Kyokai 1997)
CHRIS GORDON invisible circus
November 21, 2010 § 1 Comment
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Underneath the pillow
Making your neck ache
The Invisible Circus
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The Invisible Circus
Goes from town to town
Never really moves
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We hear the parade
That tells us it’s coming
The Invisible Circus
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Close your eyes it’s
Auditions today at
The Invisible Circus
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Your blind grandmother
Almost sold you to
The Invisible Circus
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The girls are all
Clean and well-oiled at
The Invisible Circus
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Everyone speaks
Italian in whispers at
The Invisible Circus
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Your father got lost
One day in the crowd at
The Invisible Circus
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The cards are all
Blank at the tables at
The Invisible Circus
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Cut your thumbs on
The Bearded Lady at
The Invisible Circus
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The Invisible Circus
Hidden in the design
Of Buffalo Nickels
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Your limp goes
Away on the grounds of
The Invisible Circus
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Their tents are made
Of the skin of burnt milk
The Invisible Circus
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Nine out of ten housewives
Have never heard of
The Invisible Circus
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The Invisible Circus
Forbids the clowns
To remove their make-up
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Your watch stopped when
You bought your ticket to
The Invisible Circus
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The knife at your throat
A hand down your pants
The Invisible Circus
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Take another ride
You never see it twice
The Invisible Circus
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She wears a mask
With feathers she found at
The Invisible Circus
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My hair fell out
Yours turned gray after
The Invisible Circus
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MASKS No. One