for Ronnie -

for Ronnie

so in this blistering silence there are forms awaiting birth

we the callow midwives here coaxing ideas into being

with sure hands and a solemn step we unearth

methodologies to undermine the pious longing and reveal

your structured Ease as one who has

been lethe-ward with intent following your fathers

across the Wave and into the arms of loving

mothers, wives, daughters, sons, betrayers vanquished

with an old axe flung

hard and knowing of its mark you Sailor with

your tattooed arms

and rusting Ships how will you

plead, here before the Muse? Have you

braced yourself for violet Winds

while all along the boiler hums and spits in

the engine-room, your arms twisted in the sinewy Strength

a man long at Sea battles fought

in distant jungles, prisons, psychiatric wards, your

home away from Home the nights and guts spilling out

fire for the furnace, an unmasking of the dead

here where the Sea crests

over tidal Prayers you

think of Kentucky your place

in the rough Earth the highways stretching

before you

as you guide your rig with

a sure hand my protector

here, in this Asylum, my

comrade in arms

who rolls cigarettes quietly and amused, blood-

brother, here, in

these Sacred lands --