Read the lines from Between Words.Love,The moon is between clouds,And we’re between wordsThat could deepenBut never arrive.Like this walk.We could goUnder trees and moons,With the stars tearingLike mouths in the night sky,And we’ll never arrive.That’s the point. To go Hand in hand, with the words A sparrow could bicker Over, a dog could make sense of Even behind a closed door, Is what it’s all about.A friend says, be happy.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.In Fresno the fog is passingThe young thief prying a window screen,Graying my hair that fallsAnd goes unfound, my fingerprintsSlowly growing a fur of dust— One hundred years from nowThere should be no reason to believeI lived.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.When autumn rains flatten sycamore leaves,The tiny volcanos of dirtAnts raised around their holes,I should be out of work. My silverware and stack of plates will go unusedLike the old, my two good slacksWill smother under a growth of lintAnd smell of the old dustThat risesWhen the closet door opens or closes. The skin of my belly will tighten like a beltAnd there will be no reason for pockets.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.When the season ends,And the onions are unplugged from their sleep,We won’t forget what you failed to see,And nothing will healUnder the rain’s broken fingers.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.After a day in the grape fields near RolindaA fine silt, washed by sweat,Has settled into the linesOn my wrists and palms. Already I am becoming the valley,A soil that sprouts nothing.For any of us.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín. In Fresno the fog is passingThe young thief prying a window screen,Graying my hair that fallsAnd goes unfound, my fingerprintsSlowly growing a fur of dust—
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín. And tears the onions raiseDo not begin in your eyes but in ours,In the salt blownFrom one blister into another;
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.The sky went black in the ninth hour of rolling trays,And in the distance ropes of rain dropped to pull meFrom the thick harvest that was not mine.
Read the lines from Between Words.Love,The moon is between clouds,And we’re between wordsThat could deepenBut never arrive.Like this walk.We could goUnder trees and moons,With the stars tearingLike mouths in the night sky,And we’ll never arrive.That’s the point. To go Hand in hand, with the words A sparrow could bicker Over, a dog could make sense of Even behind a closed door, Is what it’s all about.A friend says, be happy.
Read the lines from Between Words.Love, The moon is between clouds, And we’re between words That could deepen But never arrive. Like this walk. We could go Under trees and moons, With the stars tearing Like mouths in the night sky, And we’ll never arrive. That’s the point.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.They begin in knowingYou will never waken to bearThe hour timed to a heart beat,The wind pressing us closer to the ground.
Read the lines from Between Words.Love, The moon is between clouds, And we’re between words That could deepen But never arrive. Like this walk. We could go Under trees and moons, With the stars tearing Like mouths in the night sky, And we’ll never arrive. That’s the point.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.Later, the sky grayed,And the cold wind you breathedWas moving under your skin and already farFrom the small hives of your lungs.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín. In this moment when the light starts upIn the east and rubsThe horizon until it catches fire, We enter the fields to hoe,Row after row, among the small flags of onion,Waving off the dragonfliesThat ladder the air.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín. And tears the onions raiseDo not begin in your eyes but in ours,In the salt blownFrom one blister into another;
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.When you got up this morning the sunBlazed an hour in the sky, A lizard hidUnder the curled leaves of manzanitaAnd winked its dark lids. Later, the sky grayed,And the cold wind you breathedWas moving under your skin and already farFrom the small hives of your lungs.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín. The wind strokesThe skulls and spines of cattleTo white dust, to nothing, Covers the spiked tracks of beetles,Of tumbleweed, of sparrowsThat pecked the ground for insects.
Read the lines from The Elements of San Joaquín.In Fresno the fog is passingThe young thief prying a window screen,Graying my hair that fallsAnd goes unfound, my fingerprintsSlowly growing a fur of dust— One hundred years from nowThere should be no reason to believeI lived.
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