Charles Alexander


from PUSHING WATER


part one


      this man strange turning

                  forgetful though not in a line

abiding to want oranges and not a color so much as

            through the tunnel pushing water

                  reading a turn into some blue note

      ashes brass gate closed but a space under

            level or tool for moving

      same but shadows upon

          brown boxes, books, yellow cat

nothing lists as if breathing matters, crocus

    beside, along, otherwise aslant

      and stripes, sure, can't away now or want

            doing for reach, elbow still

        surprises unfurnished, as though

leaving means line break, body

                  open, callous, asking without rancor

            not what keeps

    night's premise that points never starry

                  say what one wall, hearing owls among

rising a single point for

            horizon's will, my or their intention

    witnessed, ever, walking for

      notions, encounters, as fine this hour

            a line wants edge, aloof and

                  strengthened with no idea

ground upon lack turning other to cheeks' sadness

            ripe, lively wanting or unstraightened

      enough to place in mouth, hand, wash

                taste down forks upon nothing

    accordingly, original upheaval merges rimless

engraved with Defoe's initials plunging sea-like

      concerned with the address of a rose

            (static wanders to empty spaces cling true)

      suits or untied hair muted

   a long time ago a trumpet g-sharp to b, odd sonority

            unfounded with an oboe, pierrot, re-beckoning

     the border is not necessarily a margin

                        that gap water permeates  /  asking

hosannas to be silent  /  prayer may be received or taken

      while sitting, facing wood, politics closed to mourners

another world jumps on fathers  /  some paragraphs

            announcements and justice poses a fable

                        prayer and the book try to make responsible

      deaf or out from under  /  that space the subsequent (previous)

            appearance of children, imperatives, request

                  the occupation of bare feet, high sounding

                              in open territory or aware



part two


            newspaper on the counter

strikes a chord, stem attached

                  can't recommend a board or

      stain in cement from that public disunion

                  erupting in black white lettered squares

on tops of tables around the bend masking

      where tenacity wins a day's approval brooding

            before no stars   /   are you tracing

a line of exit from my ankle to cock, assuming

      whenever money flees to prearranged adoption tears

several times in two days, arithmetic

    words defined in acknowledge, fire tuned within

            stories, transition and imported free of custom

writing as form of reverse, winged and baseless

      believed she in angels and painted small numbers

   white marks on black until drained, small

            man with heart as head, literally

undone by fumes, horizons wanting place to breathe

                        savagely uttered fine droppings stain

            to free basil humbly offers no pity

                              arc and foundational, light

      as substance   /   he never knew what that meant

            she sat on the sofa with her mouth open

   filled with me, lasting evenings through shade

                  and allegiance false promise

      as half part leaves the dark garden

                  cooing comes floating or speaking

        it is a missed function, finally open to saying

                  one wants      and wants not exactly

ecstasy but a touch to coming again and again

            actual green wall and picture of cat near music

as if batteries matter

                  previewed to mass arching

wrapper hinged between two or more alternatives

                              materials infected   /   daily dispersion

and lack of candles telling children to sleep

                  too long for attention reading scrawls

            from oak, alder, politic picking plum

                  to aphasia   /   render problem graphically

   as bassoon under meadow grass rolling with her

               bravo show a hit

                              where humor frames until

               space deplanes declares abruptly gaping

      crumble intelligence into back yards string determines

                  theory of presence, prayer

            far rattle reaching solvent fray torrent soil

                     black to stand asking no fault

                  no red at all, still



part three


rising test scores to fifty per cent a balancing act

      wide gap between free lunch and full pay

   afraid of retension (fan shen   /   a village turns over)

                        a culture flags its children

            and shares a bone moment of prayer

         pain killers at hand seven days

                           and a bus ride to possible

            extinction not a past in sight

                        in snow bound bundles

          arguing budget lines through the wind   /   stability

                              or sustenance enchant

            ties and laces underneath tables

                                 through the frost

                  arrows pushing parts as final, mouth

                              utters small noise

      from legs the time barters to state unless

   yes please give me a call irises with names like riverbed rise

                        into cloud cover, aurora regrets not

      strains in cotton from altitude frightened

                              children in closets

         as national debt comes to equal executive compensation

      afraid of children shouting at 3 a.m.

                           one two years old who says   /

            the yellow is gone   /   when she sees a billboard in three panels

                  of RGB instead of CMYK

                                 there are pastures and horses

            somewhere in northern Oklahoma riding four hours

                        stirs a stew conscious or not whole

         ambidextrous only in baseball's green hat with A for a name

untended, unturned, unflappable, unscrewed, wide eyed long in the nose

                  He told a story of loss

      but listening strayed to boxes on plains resembling hay

            my uncle bundled when I knew where I lived where is

      an I know that   /   no talent for riddle the first

            person excised from will to burn   /   it did

                  happen it is happen it will happen arrogant

                                    to a fall from grace

                     push to pay for prayer in a needlecap   /   tip

                              dripping unlike smearing or knots in lace

      when found as arrow drew curtain reft wide road

            buried in snow today in presence

         girls made snow bunny less than week pre Easter

                              salad with spinach and crisp

memory, but never crisp or stale just broken, rose to

                  sky's pale gray for occasional porter

            where no green makes knowledge under the table

                              with your leg between straws

               prior to ache the whole of joy as utterance

            tossed to play at some cost, indented

                              semblance of being physical come to

                  another's desire and walking around a block

                           with serendipitous leveling nothing

               awkward the rain night's charm and apt

                                    to love speech or keeping faith

            within age rock and carving spires above eye level