© 1996 Dave Awl

Soliloquy of the Jade Whale

Nestled atop my earthy brain
laced with dandelion root & beetle burrow
in a castle of horsehair and magnolia petals
the King of Crickets plays koto songs
to a hushed and stunned assembly.

I peel myself apart
like the skin of an orange,
open my eyes to dazzle the sky,
shout the world into glimmering pieces--
disperse my army of aphids 
across the face of time 
to whisper my homosexual poems
& loonerist visions
into the ears of firemen, allergists,
sandwich makers & auto mechanics.

We lace tender threads of violin song
into a manifesto of random flower pots,
glass animals & the wisdom of the octopus;
lay it at the feet of the tall ash tree
whose thirteen silk strings rustle in the breeze,
moans with joy in the blinding day
& stuns me again with the cool spring sun--

nights I lie awake listening
to the muffled voice of the earth sage,
blue & cryptic as the eyes of apollo,
golden stubble of his mighty jaw,
sexual treasure he hides in the silence
of the sudden dawn.