a+d ointment 

do you smell like paradise?
i do not. instead, i turn myself
into a burn pile. give me 
your grandmothers. give me your
grease & guts & deer hide. 
we go into the eye of a needle
& sit there to rest. never push through
to the other side. life is a series 
of archways. walk beneath this one
with me. i turn into a pie pan.
rubbing the apples with sugar.
how do you pronounce your aches?
i do mine with a harmonica 
& a stray cat. feed the moon
from your palm & she will start
to come to the window 
with donkey lips. everyone just craves
reunion. the trouble is 
most of us are looking to reconnect
with fragments that will
never go back together. get your
collage face ready. put on
your rain boots, we're kings.
we're jewelers cutting the gods
their new sets of eyes. i don't want
to smell like the peach babies 
we pluck from trees screaming.
i ask you, "how bad is it?"
the gash goes all the way
to the bone. you say, "it will heal"
by which you mean "another one
for the suitcase." jumping rope
while i wait. the blood falls out
like a lidless blender. there was
never a chance. we had the stained glass
teeth & the microfilm scripture.