seeing

I saw her within a sea of fakes & self-indulgent clones,
carbon copy self-examination with their bug-eyed
sunglasses & ropy sandals & garnished day wages
tattered clothing & labors of Hercules pressed into
massive print by the tyrant who spoke with slithering
little turns of phrase, his face emblazoned on coins
& his health in the care of the aristocracy

I saw her dancing in the mid-afternoon as the rain came down
crashing across my skull & chest & disembodied legs
& the legislature demanded that we take our bags
& she, with her bright red raincoat & twitter
a laugh like locomotion where she lost herself
with no apprehension or sulking

I saw her taking the two men's eyes & cornering them naked
white beads of numbing flesh needing seeking stripes
basted & wam-bam-breaking in the dead gray sky
washing & welcoming her halo as their beacon
night light & watchtower & arctic rambunctiousness

I saw her take Rimbaud & Whitman & Ginsberg & Verlaine
ruffling the books in the dead wet breeze mould &
spirits spluttering & she looked & stamped feet
her bright blue heels taking turns kicking & glapping
gl-gl-glap in the tasseled in-between-class-time
she stuttered with her feet to light the way

I saw her parting seas, vast oceans & cosmos & vivacity
her blood running in the cold damp dream air
with she & me alone in all the swirling chaos of it
all & she took my tongue painting & said "This is
good, that the sky is mournful & the spirit is dead
& you sit here writing this as your pages turn to pulp
& your heart turns into a diamond & your mind rusts"

I saw her tapping out a melody & humming a rhythm with trash cans
talking backwards & addressing envelopes & letting me touch
her mind with strings of half-thought & for that was I grateful
answer being no, not ever, nor should I expect her rationale
her philosophy & melting candles dimming in the torrent

I saw her take the clouds & swish with them, tsk-tsking their trouble
permeating rainbows & umbrellas with her formless wonder
streaking along the open courtyard & traipsing along the way
& throughout it all I wept & trembled & knew I would never
see her again as the tides of formlessness swallowed her whole