light’s
instant

disorder
at side

deformed

miraculous
tongue

endless

incurable

secret stares
& weeps
to serpent
& stone

slave always
slave

goat
goes
gets throat cut

shadow within shadow

disappearing
maps mind

combination
colliding
into curves

silence
within silence

come
conséquent

return to region
of remembering

beg moon
save skin

sorrow suspends
strings

in sight
stand

become
blade

baptized
in bile

hearts
determine

just so

no more

sound
true tension

suck serpent’s tongue

salivate into shell

hear

here
night knows

hell horizon

pity
pity

ô pity
pitty

race
knot in night

stakes
in sea

endless expanse

howl
& lay
in lavender

cradle
cross
roads

wail
drifts

go
in circles

leave
tears

mourn
consequence

smashed
against rocks

tear’s
savage serenity

hold hands
to wind

wait
for water

take
to task

(these wounding words
transferring
through palsy)

fatigue enemy
who watches
shape of shadows

who watches
stars
satellites
or saints
drone

numbers
without names
(peshewar
or peshito)

clouds
cease

account
for this
machine

out
of order

speak
end

fog

outskirts

ruins

calculate current
& consequences
evanescent
extinction(s)

carve calculus

coldly
into
chest

hear heart
beat

beat
raptors

ravish remains

hold conception
in contempt

glide
& grasp

scared

snowstorm

remember

remember
weeping
before banquet

go
at end

come
chant
cantata of condemned

come

come

sweat
& sing

blind
perfect

distance
burden

time
meek
but
close
creature
closer

circumstance
clear

clear

vain venture

come cruel

converse

complicit

haunt

answer to
apes
in garden

complete strangers

stay so
perfect

walk

hold arms
this
time

tool
stored
for epic work

feast
fall
satisfy stars
circling
circles

act
of love

look

look

wait

roam
amongst rats

count
claws

count
blood
& bone

soiling
soil

scream

specters
wrench wonder

on knees
begging

begin
dance
fabulous
& fatal

concede
to circle

damage
dimensions definitively

run

run

state
of things

business
of living

serious
slaughter

remember
good

clear

good

hide
behind globe

gather gravel
gargle

go with goat‘s
song

turn
to toppling towers

lay down
in lavender

flame into flame

speak solemnly
hurling
in horse’s hours

count
emanation’s echo

eloquent science
crafted quite casually

fall
rope
sun
consider climb
clouds come
fall
night’s
earth
clear
clouds gone

dance
with reflection

time
walk
collect crowns
rest
in thorns
burn
orchids
burn
come
patient

cry
in crowd

go
moment into moment
circling

call
to light
massacre’s melody
this night

remember
plain of jars
laos lost
in clustered
leaves
burning
& burning still
still so still

swallow serpent’s saliva

grieve
absence
blind
sight
wait for
some shadow
silhouette

wall
no numbers
dance
turning
tune turning
tune to terror
particularly perfect
love line’s
fine fear

draw
triangles
name
body
slave
soft
stone

history hardens
come
next
in line
lose
distinction
forgotten
confess climb

close so close

this
story
sacrament
route
song
time
within sea

time
(resurrecting rocks)
trials over

this
time

listen
slave
night knows
nobility

go

go
follow torrent
to fork

gather instruments
natural force
total war

night knows night
gasp
air
grind
shake
soil
sink heavens
down
decimal point
light
below

take rest
work being
remember
dying
tell tiller
present
posture
not much
more

absolute absent
poor
washed pure
poison
cross
river

come
to fortune

horses dream
run
silent
here

breathing breath
run
carry heart
palms
concealed
name
look
for man
ash
blood
wait
leave truth
to helmsman

look
at
emperors
disappearing
disappeared

still
so still
born
to die
tongue
fore
casted
mining
meaning
you landscape
geography

death
woken up
earlier

dots
& lines

destiny
station
cross
conspire
to cry
openly
call captivity

bring down
building
state
crawl
narcotic
night
mime
memory’s
four horses
come
compose
being

sight
silent
in hell
measure
waiting
collect
cards
faces
& names
name
before barrage
end
in silence
remember
robe
of ropes
lion eagle
& ox
shadow
with shadow
understand
clear
time
late
too late
stay
sing
to serpent
& stone
slave
number
written
on back
all
time
come
weep
hear
horsemen
configure
clouds
sing
head bowed
come all
falling
stand up
forgetting
time
night
gathers sounds
origins
another
time
look
back
sleep
shame
come
true
this
possible
enter
simple science
name
count
here
turn
beat body
breathing
impossible
seconds
count
beginning
ride
white horse
name
clue
or curse
smoke
& ash
come
apart
in
time

 

 

horsey ô horsey
ebony horsey
horsey
un ebony ocean

horsey
beloved
black horsey
beloved
beauty

collect
bones on bag
go with grâce
to garden

stop
at river

wherever you are
close eyes
caress torso
you tore
into

ribbons
flying from cliff

shift
sands
from
vase

let
leavings
vanish

beloved be

by death
bed i lay
still
reading
letter
you gave
to guardian

translating terror
within this
thorax

moment
to
moment

gazing
at granite
of your eyes

watching way
you brought white
robe

hung
it over
painting by person
from 16th
century

sorrow
sewn into silk

though
covered in thorns

be beast
singing you spoke
so clearly

that morning
not so

long ago
after arriving
by battered boats

on sea

of skin

of skin

you
gave
word

standing
there

staring
like rain
over bed
i lay
truly

broken
broken beloved

& you knew
that better
than any other

leaving
with lamentations

you saw
through black
sun

& its heirs

you came over
carried sheets
from death
bed to window

bed to window

crowd
with horse
crawling along

past us

taking
off turquoise top

cleaning
sheet after sheet

until only rags
littered room

some paper
i scribbled

letters
to you
wherever you were

dancing death's duo

getting through

natural

force found us

leg
against leg

hip against hip

robbing wrong
from regard

i'd grown

getting used
to annihilation's
absence

came rolling
your body
into me
beloved

horsey ô horsey
ebony horsey

harvesting her
who was in
me

undoing knot
after

knot
night in night

you knew
what it was

i was
doing

devising
diagrams of distance

intimacy

kneeling
we kneeled

neck
to neck

washing with tongue

altered
anatomies

inside
out
we witnessed
each other
from floor

looking out
at space

where we dug
shallow graves
for each other's

heart
when that had
to come

& it came
with each
& every caress

carving
cosmologies
from tears
turning us
like lathe

lovers
we would
become white
wall

hiding history

of how hard
we were
obliged to be

before

before

rains

horsey ô horsey
ebony horsey

beloved
black
beauty

dances
no
doubt

sleeping so
loud

the winter night
we kneel
we kneel

when
fatigued
from flight
into one another's
wings

conceal
our clever secrets
with sweat
saliva
semen

remembering rain
of body
beloved

horsey ô horsey

 

 

 

 

 

My Musical SoCal colleague Tommy Dodson and I are delighted to pass on the merry wishes of our melodious muses, as represented in the below lyrics, and as sung by Tommy Dodson.

 

 

HUSH, IT'S CHRISTMAS

Music and Lyrics by Curtis W. Long

Hush, it's Christmas.

When the world is still,

That certain time of year;

When we feel a chill;

And brighten with good cheer;

When things seemed so dire,

A blink in time ago;

When cares seem to tire

And nestle in the snow;

Hush, it's Christmas.

Feliz Navidad, you'll hear

From some voices calling,

Punctuated by good cheer,

Soft as snowflakes falling.

Elsewhere, Merry Christmas floats

Through the maze of pine-scent.

Each and every kidlet knows

This is magic-time-sent.

Hush, it's Christmas.

Stop, relax and breathe;

Exhale the stifling past.

Let all doubt take leave;

Make new, and then hold fast.

Ancient Christmas comes

To tone down all the din,

So that mankind hums

lightens up within.

Hush, it's Christmas.

My favorite time of day. Just before it's too dark to get a photo of anything but maybe a full moon.

 Barn at twilight.

The last drop of light caught this scene. 

Sumac sunset.

Birch.

The sky was all Maxfield Parrish!

Angel of darkness.