Heartbreak that can be told
is not the eternal heartbreak
the Tao must be wrong
about needing
to be free
of desire
to realize
the mystery
bent beneath desire
I ride enigma’s very train
II
Hearts that break are doubtless
hearts that break
that doubt
bottom out
in mystery, desire
desire
name themselves darkness
without darkness
no light
no chance to know one dwells
in mystery whose home
is heartbreak
whose city is here
In pain, indifferent to pleasure
indifference to pain, my pleasure
and my day
seeded as the wind blows
trained in loss
I am no sage
rather refugee, castaway, child
wren, sparrow, common mullein
I blossom less often
do not sing as I fly
III
How to use this heartache
to stand firm
to while away the hours
to let go of heartbreak
is to be wretched
I want only
what Sappho
wanted
long ago
on the Aegean:
to sleep upon my soft
girlfriend’s breasts
IV
Not anthrax, plague
the man who has my name
rubble and flame
raised fist, flown flag
blue of the departing train
heartbreaking
the doll pulled from wreckage
faces of baffled children, the call
never made, birds gone
forever elsewhere
your face
but not the eternal heartbreak
without name or place to be
set down
holding the shape of flowers
when there are no flowers
eternal heartbreak is not
what fills this page
is what these words do not conceal
is what they cannot say
eternal heartbreak
uncreates what is only made
lasts forever and helps
by taking everything
V
The sparrow
is a pretty bird
no city
is an island
I will never understand
VI
Heartbreak like water
finds the low places
easily spills
or hardens
look
at how the lost
float, sport, drown
at how the happy recoil
from what is wet
on the Brazos
no more cane
no sun in the pines
only wind
four commandeered planes
then the sky
quiet empty blue
all of this and you
your breast
your face
and all the rest