All The Candy We Could Want

Ancient Handiwork of Mine

—Poems and Photos by Robert Lee Haycock, Antioch

BLOODTHIRSTY

The cat-eyed bartender
Brings us bowl after
Bloody bowl adding
His tip up in his head

We'll skip out without
Paying our tab but
There the mountains are
Holding the desert back

They don't seem to
Care for us at all

 Running Errands

HIT MY MARK

In the wings 
Dust 
Light follows me 

My words 
Taken by the wind 
You lie

Your chest laid open 
Why on earth 
Are you here?

 From Oak Town

LIGHT AND SOUND

toolbox full of smoke
under the bed my dead
old friends had better leave
our house emptied before
rising seas start knocking
at the door a pile of letters
I must address the child
we saw upon this beach
moving the stars sing
a new taste for the roads
keep changing but how
can they stop us

 Being Preached To By My Kid

THE HAPPY WANDERER

Rifling the desk drawers 
Not a jelly bean to be found 
Chairs bolted to the floor of the truck 
Warehouse full of ghosts

Broth of reindeer hide  
They dip their cups and sip 
Spit it out into the pot 
Dip their cups again

Growing stain on the left knee of my denims 
Where the hell is that orange roof? 
Arm pinned behind his back 
No one wants their car washed

Dim sum and Russian hymns 
Explosions not so far away 
Hide your bike in the tall grass 
We'll sit in the swings and drink tequila

 Daydream

SINDIBAD

Her feet were oozing into my hands
Too many miles from here to then
Chartreuse on the tips of tongues
I could not teach the bones
Turning in the churchyard
How to sail for Serendib
Without an ill wind

 Catch Me Now I'm Falling

TELEGRAM FROM PATMOS

Our books had all rusted 

Become piles of numbers 

Stars shone in the daytime 

Planets laughed and ran away 

Pillars of meat stood 

In every doorway 

Nothing to rely on 

But the harpies' stink

________________________

Today's LittleNip:

ITINERARY

By then there was nothing left
Of our spines but nails and
Scraps of wood

We had all the candy we could
Want with our maps spread
Out on the dash

________________________

—Medusa

Our Favorite Haunt

[Click once on photos to enlarge]