From the 2020 Collection "War Bread"
#jmartindean #warbread
Ten days secluded now, improper and unshaven inside a black and gold hole, dope den of sultry sound and opiate mood.
Nine times out of ten, it’s a demon you’re seeing, not an angel. They have all kinds of disguises, I know-I know,
Love is a svelte dagger, a gentle rapping, a triple-seven. Love is my law, makes me weep,
To be a ghost is to always be aghast— To not know which direction is the future or the past.
I hear now a raucous party in the… Recognizable party tracks fun and… Laughter, joviality, intoxication… An early advent of unseasonal heat and the moment of festival and mat…
That one more, chasing the dragon, carrot dangling,
I saw a man and his crumb snatcher… sprawled on the porch of their hom… it was painted a bright ocher with… small, modest, humble, clean, givi… A joy, in short.
I know people see him and think, “Gee, that’s crazy.” Which makes it embarrassing to see him
Finally alone, I lie with a volum… I venture again to hear the injunc… normally I savor their sensitivity… but tonight all I can think about
I wept at the sight of my guru’s picture, Praise God, He is always with me, a Holy thing,
The moon lulls me as I wade through poppy fields, dragging limp hands behind me, catching each pod long enough before it snaps upright again
A Sacred Site, to my mind, is the last place you’ll ever stan… Such a place reveals hypocrisy without shaming,
I thought of a human birth And I glanced up ’Twas dusk, early and bright still And close to me it fell through the sky and burned
The choir of the saints is heartle… They’ve parried happiness a lifeti… seeking only the old earth, the marsh of the meek— where earnest suffering
I saw him on the side of the road, on the side of the interstate exit… Maybe he was 18, definitely not 21… tired but not yet haggard. The moment I saw him