[1] Before & After

Before knowing you, desire Was a steam locomotive chugging In and out of the grand concourse Of my body.

After finding you, I see it Steaming and stamping inside, Waiting for your light feet Now roving in my veins, To embark and depart Into those strange weathers Of my interior.

[2] Hymn

Rain, and an overcast Sabbath morning. I am not a believer. I am only sure Of these things I now know:

Your laughter that kept me awake, And then roused me from my sleep Last night; the nave of your ribs In which I kneel and call your name, The copulas of your breasts in which I hear distant thunder, and this bell In your belly, I toll with my tongue, In thanksgiving, in want.

[3] Ark

This house is the ark. These are the animals Of land, air, and water.

However entwined with You, I can’t tell which One of us is Noah!

[4] What He Said: (after Kuruntokai)

From the dense groves of waving palms This evening, I, Mayon, The dark-bodied god of herdsmen Drive the thirty-two grazing White cows across the hills and vales, Chewing on the white flesh of a tender Coconut, towards where jasmine beads The dark stand of her hair.