From Marstower, Copyright 1972, Red Clay Publishers

The Children of Ferocity                                                                                              dance through the last stand of the Nez Perce
                                                                                                                     taken to the cleaners no more forever above the garbage-
the children of ferocity dance                                                                                       fruited plains dance through the cranberry stained
through the arcades of Tashkent                                                                                     dishwashers deepening into wild canyon colors deepening
dance through the green corn                                                                                       into great american novels dance through the landfills
dance through the Tiffany computers                                                                               at the bottom of rocktowers leaning into the gravity wind
milk sky over red vases                                                                                          the children of ferocity dance through the delicate
lace threaded through barbed wire                                                                                 water-towers on the spur line to the cold dazzle and honeyed
cows woven into the fabric of desire                                                                               pavements of New Jerusalem dance through the grizzle bears'
large pieces of slate over the sky                                                                                  red tongues slurping up the down-hearted  tromped and
chickens threaded through the levers                                                                                 uplifted rubberneckers dance through the
wombs budded through bangalore torpedoes                                                                              grasshoppers frizzling in the grey dance through the slate
green shingles over the slateheavens earth                                                                             onto the shingles through the radioactive termites
worms threaded through the piccolos                                                                                     of the Motherlode  the crinolined rasberry lipped
lions woven into cuckoos' borrowed nests                                                                                 sweethearts and the beaver topped high.stepping
babies born through the first                  the children of ferocity                          the children of          kingpins the children of ferocity dance
non-recoiling breech flowers with              dance through the drums                           ferocity dance            through the city through the rubber clowns' faces
petals of eyes sewn together and fragrance     dance through the forms                           through the high-          from which the ants pour out the children of ferocity
of old battleships mothballed                of the dance through the ladders                    life poised upon the        dance through the piss in the milkweed
in green corn over which the dark crows     set upon the field of blood                          drumbeat of a word the       dance through the witches filmed with
blaze against the dull blue slime          upon which the Polish Jews are                        children of ferocity dance    red varnish
of the horizon                            machinegunned with God out of                          through the stilts of the
                                         the spurting graves over the                            machinegunned clowns the children of ferocity
                                        witches straw bodies afire                               dance through the skins of the poisoned crows
                                       with words of bravissimo tomorrow                         the children of ferocity dance through the blackness
                                      manana we care today the moon dance                        inherent in the crows' feathers dance through the blankness
                                     one sixth your normal weight dance                          socialized in the genticide of the hawkmen dance through the
                                    through the barren primeval wastes                           living waters of slit throats dance through the candles guttering
                                   of the dead astronaughts dance over                           in the broken windows of the city dance through the waters of asphalt
                                  the turning darkness and the twirl of the                      and over the hardened puddles of rust-resistant steel through the shock-
                                 fields of green corn the children of ferocity                   proof bellies of the witches woven into the heavyduty truck wheels
                                dance through the last speeches of the                           dance through the leopards-woven into the synthetic fibers
                               burning witches set to scare the crows away                       of hope through the acrobats threaded into the hypodermic       the children
                              dance through the moon to the zero                                 of the blind man's optic center through the painters           of ferocity
                             of gravity nothing times your original leadbottom                   sewn into their paintings sold to the rats                    break.  throw
                            the children of ferocity dance through the                           for the sake of a combat ribbon to wear                      a name on
                           living corn spurting blood                                            in Trop-Artic all-season fecundity year                     liVing Waters
                          the broken moon balances the night                                     the children of ferocity                                   it dances back to you
                         of flames of crystal                                                    dance through city                                        in breadcrumbs of
                                                                                                 through the green corn                                   condor-bellied
the children of ferocity                                                                         and the stubble                                         starvation  the sun
dance through the city                                                                                                                                  returns to you in pieces
Coke bottles in each brain                                                                                                                             of nightflesh  words burn
stingrays in each soul                                                                                                                                in the scattered bones of
the children of ferocity burn                                                                                                                        witches  throw a people upon
among the living ashcans                                                                                                                            living waters and the moon
the children of ferocity dance through the stubble                                                                                                 glides dead as a cabbagehead
of Insurance Towers dance through the rubble                                                                                                      over the massive postures of the
of High Rise Slums dance through the newspapers                                                                                                  dance the broken bones destroy
issued through the mouths of witches burning in the backlots                                                                                    the drums they beat upon  the
dance through the spit in the blind man's cup through the forms                                                                                people dance over the earth hard-
of pity and the hawks of nightflesh dance through the plateglass chains                                                                       packed  the muffled sound balances
relics of Nieman Marcus Welby's wife's broken pelvis dance through the                                                                       the nightflesh of empires  the
situation riot comedic fishy leap upward through the stratifications                                                                        children dance through the noise of
of the hierarchic year dance through the orange spotted fortifications                                                                     breaking bones the drygulches of
of the faces of the yachts at anchor in a difficult season dance through                                                                  fourflushers and the crabgrass of the
the blind man's eyes his pity                                                                                                            Mississippi Turnpike River  the
and the slate fields of home               the children of ferocity dance                                                               children of ferocity dance through the
the children of ferocity                  through the flower-vested                                                                    flower-printed gasoline hoses through the
dance through the rats                   crapshooters dance through the                                                               iron-maiden headaches through the exorcism
that feed on the gulls                  shiney gargle of undertakers                                                                 of gong bell and blurb through the
dropped from the redline               in their rich black best broadcloth                                                          Frigidaires melting around the ice-cubes
of the plum forgotten living          dance through the brothel motels of                                                          deep in the wired fields of home dance through
tree of the sky                      stuccoed pink natural wonder formations                                                      the blue heads melting through the cubist
                                    eaten away by copperheads and their                                                          Bandaides through the harlots' cursing old
                                   deep-dyed comeuppance rag-tag                                                                Salem's infected winding sheets through the
                                  riffle and raffle Tombstone rabble                                                           scraped-out babies in red vazes under the
                                 and the fields of golden wheat all lazy                                                      Tiffany sky through the skeleton hand still holding
                                in the avocado iceboxes  the children of ferocity                                            the alcoholic breathalyser through the golden keys
                               dance through the sweet-meats  cinch-bugs                                                    that revolve the drums of plenty and gorbudge
                              Peacemakers and the lacey tatters of the cere-                                               through the milky-green form of the maiden in the
                             cloth dance through the pumpkin pie in sackcloth                                             field of bronze wheat through the whiskery rats' faces
                                                                                                                         puffed as they play new tunes on bonepipes pierced
                                                                                                                        of classical little people frameworks  the children of
                                                                                                                       ferocity dance through the eyes sewn with flowers
                                                                                                                      still damp from morning fields.

                                                                                                  And the scarecrows are shot at dawn.