the hippies cavort
in athletic innoncence
naked in the sun

transcendental
wanting to have fun on earth
and live in real adobe

not knowing they pray
for Oppenheimer who
met his vision coming the other way
trying to defeat a madman

stricken muse

blades score on ice
perfect eights

dance leap and whirl
the primum mobile

lips red full
voice

the world in a look
symphony hair
conflagratory flute

now stricken
the self attacked
in a loop

by self unknown
ravenous wolf

the cold causes
her hands to blanch
then to ulcer

medicine works
but also
contra naturam

would a wizard
undo these
immunological knots
that beauty, live,
forget us not

* * *

to circle the magic island
to be aggrandized
by the alchemy
of its bridges

to pick manna off
the west to east currents
through the corridors
of domiciled masses

to write true verse

live heart to heart

even for an hour

* * *

the journey in the desert
was too hazardous
even for the covenant

which revealed Moses'
grasp of the concept
clean running water

some place
this hill
of the foreskins

Arizona West

the drifter, the dreamer, the fantastical fanciful
left for dead

first they tried to get him to jump
by firing birdshot at him
from both ends of the bridge

then they worked him over
with a chain
dropped him off the bridge

the accidental witnesses
awoke to both their glory
and misfortune

the drifter Arizona West
was rescued by them
taken to the hospital
later to disappear
under mysterious circumstances
never to be seen again

what did they see?
the crime was never solved
who walked into the wrong
bar at the Oklahoma line
forever

fantastical incognito
fleeing seeking innocent

was drop kicked
after all he wasn't doing
a good job blowing

by the mean ignorant dirty

we heard the story
met the people
they gave me this advice:

don't let her jog down this road
there are people down there
who have sex with sheep
please don't let her do that!

they knew the lay of the land
it was good advice
I took it