Ten Poems

'America, now I will try it this way'

America, now I will try it this way:
All my years, after all, are bursting yellow-blue on this day
And I am walking as we all have walked on pavement and roads
Treading on each other's struggling skin-souls
         Trampling without knowing any better

Our towns are forgetful and we are only human though we have built
And burned down - we toss and turn in our sleep and wake up grumpy

So let them come forward (who can not see straight)
Let them come forward (who are on fire, all crackling heat)
Let them come forward (whose weak knees are those of a wounded elk)
Let them come forward (who have been nudged off the map)
Let them come forward (who have forgiven and cry while driving)
Let them come forward (who smell the cut grass and the wound around the corner)
Let them come forward (who are my kin and your kin and there when our hands sweat)

Is it possibly in the way the finch flew close to my sun-veiled face
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