Edited Poem: Creeping Silver

creeping silver traces names onto gabbro walls preserving our present presence before the black gash as miraculously precious

LEO BERT ABRAMOSKI ROBERT JOHN ACHAS JESSE RODRIQUEZ ACOSTA
RAYMOND ALVIN ADAM HUGHIE DARELL ADAMS GABRIEL RALPH ALAMO

each wall reflects a face veiled in creeping silver names that have fallen on the stage of theaters

GEORGE HENRY ALBRECHT JAMES BLAIR ALEXANDER JAMES HERBERT ALLRED
WILLIAM HARRY AMSPACHER DELOSS WILLIAM ANDERSON EVERETT LEE ANDERSON

as each face passes one wall a new one arises
following the march of silent spectators creeping silver branches out

THOMAS EDWARD ANDERSON MARSHALL JOSEPH ANGELL JOSE RUBEN ARAGON
WAYNE ALLEN ARAKAKI ROBERT GEORGE ARMSTRONG ODIS DANIEL ARNOLD

spectators walls and creeping silver stretch out into the horizon against a blood orange sky

Editing A Life

Five years or more packed
into cardboard boxes,
shipped across three
states inside an aluminum
truck, carried by friends
into a one bedroom home.

And as I unpack
those years
I let more
& more
go.

rolling
currency
between
cheeks

copper

acidic
sweet
metal
fruit

flesh

one
bite
for
one
penny

Rumbling four ton machines
pound rain into clouds
underneath rubber tires.

They ride paths paved
by the giants
that came before.

Migration patterns
follow the tide
of bulls and bears.

And we pretend
to have tamed
these beasts.