crisis maybe maybe not

Not quite light
they say the weather
has never been
as unsettled.
 
Woke later than usual and disturbed
rules were broken and paths overgrown
in dreams I couldn't bag or cage
safari is over back to work.
 
Phenomenal lassoes miss and take
hold of one or another of my horns
yanked the nose the eye the balance
pheremonally barely resistable.
 
Looking through gaps in the slats
isn't everything I need right here
I haven't been everywhere so how
would I know where my medicine is?
 
The cool fall
from the hot seat
crisis maybe
maybe not.
 
Sitting in a different place than usual
makes unusual the multilingual
chattiness between bird species
Do they care if they are understood?
 
It is cool in the morning but will turn hot
should I wear long sleeves or shorts
the plaster turtles comfortable in weeds
the water in the koi pond is slowed to a trickle.
 
Holy writings have long been invading
the squatting kneeling pleading place
prostration more a rhythm than peace
this verse works that verse falls flat.
 
Show the prison
walls the way
to feel better
about themselves.
 
Books unread and mocking lined up
against the wall like so much paisley
clouds show me their dark bottoms
they are lighter where we cannot see.
 
The roots of crime the middle ages
hunger brain and fuzzy simulations
atlases topographies and interiors
how to talk about it all without drowning.
 
Coffee breezes respect for others
this music combines what cannot be
thought and felt in the same note
they blow in and exhale over the ridges.
 
Lead me not
to my own fruit
plant my heart
outside my gut.