-the first one from long, long ago- 

read it again
the way you used to

quick and young on a bench of wood, the sunlit

window warming the goldilocks

at "Mark's Coffeehouse" twixt State & Maynard, the blood-
colored sleeve at the palms of your hands. who was it said
"porcelain"? certainly not me,–– pious 
hipsters unravelling hair and attitudes all around you.

read it again
the way you did

inside the barroom on West Liberty

those early Saturday mornings
before we opened the door to madness.

read it again
from the back of its sleeve blood-colored

nearing the banks of the Huron, the quiet

end of its winter; "within you without you"

beginning from your mouth warm-blooded.

'69, '70? (1997)