today on a spreading plain high up in the high sierra
i saw god in his garden
straw hat dust and ancient legs
as though he’d spent his life on a horse
i didn’t say anything
i couldn’t
i was on a bus just passing through
but today I saw god in his garden
and the marigolds turned their shining faces
to see him pass

i poured a drink
and named it thirst
it hit the table problem solved
i opened up longing
and called it love
and saw that lack can be the answer
and it’s language that has caused the problem
so i made a new world with
half the words
problem solution
same same
and sure enough
life came sweet again

there is something holding up all of this
holding it lightly in the palm of her hand
the clouds that roll across the mountains
the bright birds
the 43 sick to the stomach – I cannot imagine
when they knew what was happening
the men with guns lost enough to do it
the mayor and his wife dead enough to give the order
and look she holds us all – each one – so sweetly
how can it be ?

my father was away a lot try always
and my mother was the Truman Show
she stuck a dome over us
and everything as far as the eye
including thinking belonged to her
i was old enough when i ran out of air
and took a pair of scissors to the sky
it wasn’t easy
and i was on my knees
but for the first time ever i saw the stars

the soft of his mouth the
hard of his cock the soft
of his voice sometimes
when he speaks to me
the hard of his hand
just below each finger
where earlier in the sun
he held a spade
thrusting deep over and over
into the rough earth
bringing up root and potato
and root and potato
undoing what has been done
making new again

they say you meet him three times
the second was in mexico
right across from ricos raspas
and I said no
until he came on over
bold as church
in front of san domingo
the dust rallied to his clatty hooves
and all the women selling blouses
you want two fingers or three ?
por favor and
pushed me up against the cool adobe and
bit my mouth making blood
listen how my body sings
opens like a stupid flower
hasta luego
and there i am
i’m on my knees
crying to the wrong god
por favor camisas blusas
por favor
bound like that
until we meet again