On Being Published

I want to croon tonight, crow & prance  
drifting on a raft with violinists.  
Arms hoist me, ravens sing  
harmony while my hand floats in  
cold water rapids of rapture.  
Publish me! More sensuous than sucking  
if you hold the wet words in your mouth  
and spill them out without swallowing.  
Edit red dust, hike across the canyon,  
a horse corral by any other name would  
smell. Do you love me? Do you LOVE me?  
Lie to me; typeset my whore’s heart  
in AGaramond italics. 

— © 2000 (Previously published in Pig Iron Malt)