And

Wings & Arrows

Other Poems

by

Dex Quire
Blue Guitar Intl Press, Seattle

Copyright 2012 by Dex Quire All rights reserved

Some of these poems first appeared in the following literary journals: Pontoon (Number Four), Crab Creek Review, Eureka Literary Magazine, 4th Street, Small Pond, The Temple, Poets West, klang. Blocks prints by Albrcht Durer. Line illustrations by Gideon Harris and Associates.

Wings

Words to Ban from All American Poetry

relationship stars junkie love dream lonely money luminous suicide mother father cocksucker names of greek deities shadow wound deep rich names of european poets tender lather seaweed moon names of european cities straw drunk bird resonate brother names of european painters resonant sister snow falling cedars Paris human world heart boundary numinous nightmare diaphanous tide ghetto panties oppression

Venus Rises from the Parking Lot

Is there no end to this river? I see you cross the parking lot, Red miniskirt, minding the sun, Mocha ice cream scoop shoulders, Generous shadows across your chest; The sun so melting on you, So action full of summer roundness; Your legs get me like the fast whites of a river; My limbs feel cartwheeled, A spoke of your fragrance Halves my head at the core. An ache to swim in your dreams Throws me down this endless river.

Sky
I cant believe Ill be gone someday no eyes wet with living to catch the ricocheting sun off bottles in the grass no guitar clacking the canister of my skull Ill take the scratchiness of living the sweetness of just before sleep the frenzy of sugar wholl scream at TV when Im gone wholl flip the bird at idiots O vague sky wholl get my thinking done who will kick the rock in the road who will love the world when Im gone

The Sturdy Paint of the Sun

the sun skids a flat stone above the clouds the Square Cat his square sun our sponsor takes on time gives good run does without darkness rich with children infinite golden coins through his spokes a golondrina flies many children flying through his spokes & we older than the sun & his square cat his juicy flirtations going before him we know nothing lasts

Troubadour Moon
The full moon is a sound hole. My bars the strings. They make a guitar of my cell. Ill play for faces bodies, Unnamed and unknown. I am mostly longing, you see, For touch and smells un uned. Can a man be carved of such nothing? But when I die Ill be uncontained, A hole in space that plays Songs of every longed for thing.

While I turned away

Youve been gone Your vacancy Now that youre gone Is potent clear printed shadow Now that youre gone I know you well An dictionary takes your place Stairs bowls cats shadows All points of evil Now that youre gone I liked your outline Practical as a firetruck Your name hot all over my body gone I never knew what to do with flowers anyhow The mirror we see The leafy one Is our only self The losing we feel The painful one Our only living

Two Stations
Spring Winter swaddling just drops, Red tips sprout from buds and dogs, Small busts rounding on fruit trees, Boys hook and girls arch and From a nest with Christmas tinsel I swear I heard a robin chirp batter up! There is no way to love you more. If I could train seals to speak, Or live a thousand years I couldnt love you more. That we cannot stay is old news Our first ripe thought. Until then Ill walk to your weather, And everywhere, with my ear On the belly of everything, I hear heartbeats.

Fall how do you do it beautiful make death so grand your orchards of color your theatrical drop the firing squad falling off your last sales-job before winter you make it all seem worthwhile to wither and die in your embrace what causes night will come for us too well go for your red lips and find ourselves on the side of so many used things

Ive Got You before Me but Youre Gone

on the suicide of Guillermo my apartment neighbor I steady your shoulder with one hand Then take a swing at you with the other. Of course my slap goes right through you. Because youve gone; Suicided to leave. What about our talks? Mexican movies of the 40s, Chvez, Augusto Monterroso, Villa Lobos, The Divine Agustin Barrios? We hadnt even gotten started. Didnt we agree how much you had to give? You fooled me with smiles and elevator greetings, Revolving girlfriends and a note under my door, After our talk in the laundry room: Thanks for your words of encouragement. Thanks for the ghost and no poem. Thanks for just the facts: The hole in your head the gun in the street. I wish I could have said, Come back, Put the gun down and come back. Were tired of ghosts and memories; To kick live ass Guillermo is what a life is, Not punching ghosts and always missing.

Aquarium
backwards stripes upwards polka dots poofing fish sticks and poison fishy snakes spiny swimming birds crust and bone sand shots inky salady fish garden slow motion garden this neighborhood of toughs thorns and stripes take out and gobblemeister crunch kings venom tails and quiet tiny mirrors tipping spokes of sun in your eyes far from the delight of porpoises to think a thought through such a long swim further from the delights of coffee big dumb ocean avant guard ocean murderous bouquet of tethered magicians

To the Students Examining My Skeleton

you see the rational part, the design. the chassis tells what it tells pelvic nicks, striations of muscle on bone interkinked vertebrae nature's imitation of stone but the upholstery the cushions at a Guatemala city bus stop I ate the universal orange from a beautiful wrinkled lady the bus was late she packed up her stand and slept by her fare with coins in her ears then my eyes were blue as a spiders belly I loved an African with perfect walnut ears my hands and feet were unused dictionaries I clung to life like a man hoisting a piano to have rolled in the spokes of the sun and tasted electric rain to stand for a time in affluent weather to have been a part of this beautiful blue tree to have felt that restless bird in my pants look on my fellow twigs I have neither leaves nor laughter inhale to the top your smoky tree rise on flat leaves your watery life

Arrows

Three Songs for Your Lovers Ear

After Shelley Lapped in lulling voluptuous joy dissolve Poisoned crystals of this moony night when Snow-brained in a sun-awakened avalanche, My lightening-split love, a linked mist in pendulous air, Twines in the many-folded wildernesses of your arms. A wordless converse of liquid sense-loaded joy, In unpastured seas of tempest-wrinkled sheets, Amphisbaenic Loves adamantine snake Goads our inextricable love-frenzy. Every interlunar spike is blazing. But Time, that envious shadow, Steals his fluid tracery of marbled light, Of Skiey towers drenched In wave-fretted constellations Of our calm-flowered sun, Immedicably parts now our limbs.

After Bilhana Bhartrihari Even now I hear your cry The sound of love's attack From your throat Down past Your belly. Even now I hear the hiss Of your skin Under my nails. Even now Teeth-dented Your breasts My lips recall. Even now I smell your temple Your sweat The scent Of my annihilation.

After Lorca heartily we fall into a bed of laughter blankets of lust cover our nakedness everything glasses straw clouds hooks everything equals getting here in your arms outside ourselves a beating heart so obvious were past concentration on vital mechanics the ghosts of stuff alarm clocks, bed posts become white water and the froth it brings we have become terrible messengers serving this ghost and his digging heart fieldwork now and locked into stunned madness of repetition the halting of stupid questions the banishment of if and then all becomes channel and sending to a place where we feel seeded our desire and blood amortized we appear to each other finally we must seem from somewhere a tantric clover tipping in the wind

Two Bathroom Poems

Faucet youre not an ocean a river a lake by the bay but youre my galaxy my bringer of life and form with the sway of a hand or an engineers torque screws gaskets and pressure swig me your gorgeous noise fountains cousin hydro pour stand and twist and obey your power is you own us and we ignore you in return Toilet white empty may you always be a clean throat of many favors a courier not unpleasing in shape (an elephant embryo no less) you let us decide anytime your hospitality firm or choked your gargle your flush recedes all from the surface how you welcome our hugs when at our lowest we give back to you our blasphemed essences without reproach blameless dutiful with such joyful sush and rush you force on us the celebration of commodious internal wash

20th Century
There is no private sun. A divinity awake but thats all. You took our virginity you Brain attached by an unbounded fire Gone thanks to some wet animals And machines stoked on babies and prayers. Crows, rhyming dark birds, Cornered the gray sky scoring Post wires like notes on a stave, And cried with a liaisons final call. We stood praying to rustled stars With the wind soft as nipples Barely touching our bladed necks And without mercy of the old blade We breathed, we burned, we were gone. Did we have to know this? That leaves grow back into trees? That simple waking is torment? Life scalpeled by hungry winds. The after-air is now a bath of loss And our thoughts are wary animals Afraid always afraid of the human, For the place of exile is nowhere.

A Prayer
Dear God, clasp us to your big belly charm us fine but lift our oppression ignore our disgrace, forgive our isolation forgive our wrecking yard world brutal metal wanted to be kind but the joker card beckoned life is not made out of death at least not this much for we are fit for the earth but we should not killingly leave her hatred is free, a spanking new virus crying this is the end of the line, thats it, thats it then poise is gone the quest for truth is small we believe only in blood and several feet of cement but even a rock wavers under waterAmen

Nine Corners
Sorry, Europe I could fold your country into the shadow of the mountain in our back yard

Waiting for Foreplay the rivery swish of clothes sliding off limbs in the dark

Nothing Left for Fantasy I forget the last time I lay down outside something about a bucket of berries the sun had a rude backhand smash to it the river was hot

Blues I gave you my heart I gave you my soul where they went when you left I dont know I dont know

Deaths Nail File an icicle at noon dripping onto a boys tongue below

Some Dead lonely dead so lonely the wind blows them flowers off other graves

Piano A white piano world? Sweet sweet child! Beware the white piano. Its black piano world. Cigarettes and Wind Cigarette in your ears and the wind Lighting cigarette in the wind Cigarette and no wind Cigarette and strong wind

The Brother blessed the brother who gives you a hundred bucks he just laughs and hands it over folded up as though it were a phone number

Floor Trimmings
Bi-Poem Wheres my cowboy girl Gone to ride the sawhorses Flung from a country mile Wheres my cowboy girl Gone to ride the seahorses Tossed to humping waves The steers are loose and looking Find me my cowboy girl The beasts are firing and free Wheres my cowboy girl

So Much So much muscle Underground So many used throats Underground So much combed hair Underground So still the eyes Underground Does one one eye open Underground

Fist: Anglo-Saxon cage fike base fact uggh scrim want ow choo choo wife mite moo come file cast core keen kem cal bank scan do tock dough git tor geld corn fro kay sun shit bit look hit pay burp pill hat knife gore prick gut fuck kick

Sunset The best sandwich in town is the BLT sunset The sunset is a red gown worn by men With flowers on it and fans on them A circle of guitars spreads the sunset

Mr. Executive Hes an executive. Hes got executive hair, Executive toes, And what else? He blows an executive nose. Hes an executive.

Beware: 3 L Word In a room totally wallless You'd have to call it flawless. Unless, of course, the ceiling's fallen; Unless, of course, you're half inch tall n' Then youre just a spreading mess!

Sergeant Slaughter Sergeant Slaughter really lived, Really lived, really lived. But O! What a nasty kid.

After the Banquet

after the banquet after midnight all the guests gone the candles still flicker the shadows of the wadded napkins pitch the tablecloth rises spirits make merry party girls way past beautys deadline dance with the waiters a randy two step a skeleton clacks remembering his hardon and prays to be replanted in paradise

Lip Reading
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. The bay sinks behind the trees. Take the fifth on the fourth. It was equivocal, the weather. The bay was metallic pink. The dock holds the swallows as the eves hold the wrens. The pilings mesmerize the looping figure-eight swallows. As you wish, smother, drown, as you wish. The gold mask was involved in the conquest. The horses waited while the boy prepared their blankets. Find out what the blankets are really called. We greet your defects with comfort and joy. Since 1889 we have provided for your care. This is the afternoon of your final surprise. Asquinth asked for a squeeze. Fortly framed a move from the bar of his tennis racquet. Laundry dances in the cycle eternal. Confronting precipitation is the watery vacancy of rent. Duskin was an abusive man, his arboreal harmony cracked. Modern is our weather. Given your love, I want to eat shellfish. Undeliverable packages: ransom notes float to the surface. Battle ship solutions. Battleship solutions. He had a milkshake like a mule kick. The men who died for us, think of them now and then. They were big; afterwards my palms smelt of latex. Youre on your own if your want to escape longing. God is silent, I feel your shoulders. Sobs for the pastoral presence. God hopes all is not appalling. Sinking, straddling, dusting, directing. Jim Burner, fix your mole holes and murkets. The weather is never neutral.

Crossing the ferry

The ticket takers bored, Theres so many of yous Each with his urgent question Each with his uniqueness Soon to be banished. In another world, maybe, The ticket taker cares for us; But I doubt it. Maybe he asks three Questions that begin with when? Or he drags on a cigarette, And answers without looking at you. There are so many of yous, All unique all with the same Question that begins with when?

First Words to First Lines Only

Sweet Time Last Petal Desire Hardened Entered Lap Lull Rigid Parted Cooing Sighed Lying Breast Languor Munch Blush Mulch Sweat Hungry Greedily Graze Kisses Lips Sucked Heave Gaze Graze Delights

Short, not Mysterious

The season is new and flying in the sparrows beak.

Under Hell
An uncocked wind swallows the corner sky. The weathercock chews the scenery Hard-swallowing clouds shuffle resentfully Our solar system is really an old black dial phone And the same crusted dialing finger Yanks dreams like the long long magicians kerchief. There are no sudden mountains. He who sees fluently speaks to himself. Creamy topless air, melon skies and candied sunsets; A nice walk, a long bike ride to the islands A fresh fuck in the foothills, You sing it you pay for it; But if you fix it itll never be yours. Pity snorts and shakes her mane, Wanderers are slashed and pulped, And prayers are plentiful as smoke. Old timers bet on the Death; For Death is in such good shape, incredibly buffed, With abs and streaked long leg muscles His crewcut cheerful his aftershave cheap This most efficient pain gouger Pushes horizons off of bridges, His war smile is a wide open smile. Chortle for mercy chortle for mercy For there is none in him. Back in the monsters lair, Death laughs up his well-worn sleeve. The fever of things is moving slowly. We do and dont perceive, The artful blood across the walls; For not seeing is a way of seeing. Yes, even stones have life; (Goodness might taste even better As your tongue pudding-curls softly Much like the triggers curl And laughing might force The monster back into the pages.)

Where Beautys a barely breathing stream Or a thousand poison shards sigh, Everythings going to be OK A mother sings, knowing, closing the book.

Have you felt like this?

If youre not here then why am I on fire? I cant stand sit for thinking of you. I move and want to walk into you. To heft your tits to thumb your nipples, But youre where? Me? I cant. Only Visioning in some itching mind, Harrowing as a trapeze artist. Fuck the spinning miracle galaxy. I cant walk across the street, Its all you scraping the sky. All I want is to toss your cushions, Grunt the way I cant do anything else, Flop frolic spread myself out with you, Bounce your waves like a kid on inner tubes, Move my head big like a cow over your pasture, Pulverize desire where close discovery is. Behold a tree, so calm, so uninitiated Before this rude indigestible solitude. Desires dropped over me like a net Im writhing and youre not here.

Guitar Lesson #1
Hold her close Let your chest feel her smooth back Settle her deep curves Upon your thigh Wrap your arm Around her bottom And gently brush With one hand While You pinch slightly Without hurting Your other hand Upon her sensitive strands Settle for a moment But not too long Just enough pressure To make a beautiful cry

Untitled
O ebony world how you love to set me desiring such opposite flowers like the nimble skipping moon now nestled in the groin of a tree now in the bath of your hair now spreads that white canopy that beautiful smile of death the after air is now a bath of loss and our thoughts are wary animals afraid always afraid of the human

Songs Waiting for a Guitar

The Beauty of War

helmets with heads, still in them gloves with hands, still in them boots with legs, still in them shirts with chests, still in them still in them scattered over the red red grass its the beauty of war boys our daddys lesson never learned its the beauty of war boys kick back and blast hey, were brothers at last a blond head here a black leg there a torso wags a wag soon to be all nature its the thrill of war boys a lesson never learned lets just break all our toys and say we never heard and the general sent them to die how could you he doesnt ask a thousand cars drive over the bridge he dreams of dead boys driving lit cars over the bridge how could you he wont ask cause its the beauty of war boys our daddys lesson never learned its the beauty of war boys just kick back and blast hey were brothers at last

Mr. Piano Scale

Mr. Piano Scale bucks and plunkers down the street checkered Stetson cocked at a too cool angle he stops at our place says hello chile' on his way back into the street he trips but rights himself quickly sees a lovelyette slides into one of her ears and out the other he strides into an ice cream parlor sometimes you can't understand him hell say take that cat out and beat him like a high hat! or darlin' you in full bloom sweet yes you a full sweet blossom oh yeah he strolls on he strolls he looks so good in black and white sometimes folks don't notice he just keeps on winding turning crashin and yes sometimes tripping since he is beautiful and nothin beautiful is perfect yeah

Gumersindo
(Drinking Song) If my name were Gumersindo I'd join a traveling show, Put on big green shoes Juggle fat frogs on my toes; Dance merengue, cha cha n' tango, Learn to skywrite with my nose. And all the kids would shout: OO! EE! OH! Gumersindo! Gumersindo! Gumersindo! I'd join the wildest rodeo If my name were Gumersindo. I'd lasso Great Bull Brahmah Jump in the stands and kiss yo' mama; I'd kick a fat calf, nail a buckin bronc, O! I'd bounce roll spring and grin Land feet first in a tank of gin. And all the kids would shout: OO! EE! OH! Gumersindo! Gumersindo! Gumersindo! If my name were Gumersindo I'd be the star of a traveling show, I'd twirl an elephant by the tail, swim in the air, dive into a pail. I'd whack a guitar with requinto

Climb down a cannon - BOOM! Gumer? Ohhh!

And all the kids would shout: OO! EE! OH! Gumersindo! Gumersindo! Gumersindo!

(Drinking Song)

The I.O.O.F., (915 E. Pine)

One hundred F's all in a row? You bet, odd fellows every one, We're odd fellows under the sun. We've got stairs in flights (maybe a ton) And rooms galore (a hundred and probably one); High ceilings and brass, silent actors and clowns A panic-pink elevator on parade up and down; The I double O F's by god we got it all Because we're odd fellows under the sun Odd fellows every one. We've got hundreds of F's all in a row, Fools like FlinFlattery, gals named Joe; The Eye Oh Oh Eff they call it a hall It's really a park, but one inside walls. You're there, you betcha, standing in line (How do I know? Your hand's in mine) Because we're odd fellows every one Odd fellows under the sun.

One Do and Two It Poems

lets do it did you do me can I do you or will you do me lets do each other or will we long to do it with others while we do each other will I ever do it again is life waiting to do it to me how much do I study it Its nice but it hurts your back Its nice but it burns your tongue Its nice but it hurts afterwards its nice but it stings Its nice but it makes you limp Its nice but it hurts your ears Its nice but it gives you bad breath Its nice but it makes you sleep Its nice but its dirty Its nice but you have to shower afterwards it's love good ol' goddamned love there it is you can't wish it think it sleep it throw it away it just stays around like a rangy cat on the edge of your yard good ol goddamned love like a hunk of leftover cement like a Chev up on blocks on your front lawn O Christ it's love goddamned love it's love you can't wish it think it shove it stow it away its love that broke-tooth old cat snifflin' round the porch it's love good ol' goddamned love its