Brooks Haxton
Unclean
I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. Psalm 102 The pelican in scripture is
Salesmanship, With Half A Dram Of Tears
Gripping the lectern, rocking it, searching The faces for the souls, for signs of heartfelt Mindfulness at work, I thought, as I recited Words I wrote in tears: instead of tears, If I had
I Want to Pray
In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Psalm 51 That young man Firing his Kalashnikov Into the playground Has been made to know The hidden part. Me, I want to
Thy Name
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I will declare thy name unto my brethren…. Psalm 102 OK. Let’s not call what ditched us God: Ghu, the root in Sanskrit, means not
Rotgut
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Psalm 121 On a hillside scattered with temples broken Under the dogday sun, my friend and I drank Local wine at
Monster Minded
The wine of astonishment Is house wine at my house. The whiskey of it is a sauce We savor. The cocaine Of thy judgment also Is rock crystal, blow To blow the mitral valve.
1985
The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. Psalm 58 It was the fortieth year since Buchenwald: two thousand Jewish refugees in
Every Death Is Magic from the Enemy to Be Avenged
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 22 When fever burned the last light out of my daughter’s eyes, I swore to find and kill the ones to blame. Men Must
Sackcloth
I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of drunkards. Psalm 102 I made sackcloth