the gardner (watercolor, ball point pen and pencil on watercolor paper)

somewherelse

in a land near you

i observed swan

using leaf blowers

to clean out the

pools of the rich

in a land near you

i wore the mask

of conviction as it

cut into my face i

cried out for more

in a land near you

i sat sewing the flag

of forgiveness. i

ran out of thread and

resorted to excuses

in a land near you

i hurdled the mountain

of pornography. its

snow capped peaks

wet and alluring

in a land near you

i married the queen

of abstinence. her

bloated face covered

in marmalade and glue

in a land near you

i wore the pants

of uncertainty. they

felt loose and kept

falling to the floor

in a land near you

all the lights of the cities

had gone out leaving

only the glow of vast

forest fires in the distance

in a land near you

i buried all my treasure but

the money i threw at

the faithless as i drove

through streets of desire

in a land near you

the grass was as green

as a guillotine and i sang

your name. sharp as stones

my legs everywhere at once

in a land near you

i wept like a road

my tires skidding off

the edge into the thick

memory of us

cozumel (ballpoint pen, watercolor, color pencil on paper)

the younger nick

or (above the tree line)

then there were the desperate

troubled teen years in charlotte

h'd buy a small metal bonjolaili

and drive it down the coastal highway

smoke hashish and tape pictures

of gloria swanson to his marlboro's

a man of many words, then

just a wishbone of adjectives and

unnecessary analgesics h'd

dated a hairdresser for about a week

bought a skyranger

made up stories about bear

white bear. yellow bear. you name it

h's california cuddliness falling

away leaving a dark k emboldened on

h's upper arm. a collapse of melanin

then there was the way all light died

anywhere near what was left of k's eyes

h dreamed of k's salivary glands

a wine forest rich in red mucin

they married under a pomegranate sky

her womb would remain barren. they

adopted dwarves and moved north h's auburn

beard turning a deep white, k's pungent freckled skin

becoming ferule. she had an affair

with a co-worker years later. it was a nightmare

radio waves couldn't reach the house

there in the silence. a blanket of nouns

h's red suit. a streak of blood across the sky

above the roofs of children's ginger minds

luc and dad (collaboration with luc schneider 5yrs old) - pencil and watercolor on paper

it's

not over

yet/yes

it is

i may or may not have been here before

but i am sure that this is my last

chance to ever be happy again

you sit on the sink with your long socks

on blowing bubbles into the cabinets

black open graves

i'll take what's behind door number

three thousand and twenty five

for two hundred dollars jack

the lights dim and the air grinds and

leans out of the room as the curtain parts

and everything is fart noise

the talkers (ink pen on illustration board)

surgery

can you see the grey eagle

in the sky above

it's not an eagle

it's some kind of white vulture

it's hard to see as eyes

fall out of love

cutting the onion

of delicate night memory

my eye got stuck to the inside of your head (intaglio copper plate etching on paper)