1

your beard is expendable

pop the sun and let the pus drip out

hot enough by day to cause swelling

 

it bounces through the crowds

bounces on the bridge

bounces in the room

both afraid

it might bounce onto the bed

and open up our legs

 

but it hasn’t opened anything yet

it just stands there

close to you

 

i’m giving you a trim

and the beads of sweat on your stubble

so neatly strung

so sparkling

 

they bounce into the sky

one by one

 

2

 

i ask

coldly

and repeatedly

that you jump from the plane

like a rubber ball

into the temperature

of day

 

jump now

just relax

don’t lie

 

spread your limbs

like you’re making love

you on top

the earth underneath

 

coldly

i thought you could jump down

 

3

 

in actuality

we are already joined –

two pointless people

 

you boiled beef slices and they tasted good

my fried eggs and tomato

terrible

 

a balance

unrealistic

 

you added salt

i took away the sugar

i divided the rice and

you multiplied by flour

 

meaningless signifiers

 

4

 

my hope

that things will not be so unbearable

it will be possible to keep the light on

it will be possible to remain clothed

 

i will un-know

how you touched your hand

to the bodies of other women

and the swelling waters

of the Lhasa

 

that in your eyes

the badlands of the Aksu

were moistened

by girl

 

and you will not know the dead heart in

the deepest part of me –

just the light clothes

 

floating in your arms

 

5

 

you said you were dreaming

dreamed that you were cruising for girls

in Vietnam –

 

don’t know if it was Hanoi

or Saigon

maybe De Lat

maybe somewhere

you can’t find on a map

 

now star-fringed lands

make me candid –

 

i have never been to

Vietnam

 

nor do i intend

to forgive this dream

 

6

 

you rent a boat

prepare to drift from one city

to a further city

 

this boat of yours

its hull adheres to the water

force them apart and find

a sucking wound

 

if a wave doesn’t capsize you

turbulence will

 

a rope

twisted round the boat’s side

destines us to pull from the bed

 

two drenched human lives

 

7

 

i find myself funny

dirty joke with chaser

knocks me upside down in

seconds

 

and i feel bad actually

centre of gravity off

like an empty bottle

 

wavering out of daylight

down railroad tracks

into castoff consciousness

 

i have

this mouldering moon

and will soon lose sight

of these pleadings

to stay