Children, Tonight I'll Pick Something Out

Even the sparrow bleeds perfume

in spring.  A man sprays

fire when all he gets

is a kiss.  Skinny

or fat, they

are all sad when they eat

sandwiches.  They whine

when they bend & their backs

are already sore.  Rich

or poor, their lungs

are filled with fluid from

choking on their

woes.  The old man fixes
his gaze on the beeping 
sparrows in there trees;
Marlene suffer all the fools
who write you on the wall
of the specimen room 
where one bright thing begins;
forgive me please, 
diamonkey, pierce through
writer man.  Don't go away
heart broken, go away 
white & strut for 
the troops, the troops
& their sinister context.
Our tears flow 
after the recount, O Marlene
suffer everyone waiting 
in the wings to try to haul 
that angel to the roof
with bloody ropes;
dead hand will change 
the plot to pluck the sepals
of the daisy down to the 
ghastly yellow mouth. Love me 
not, you sad-eyed pearl.