Ledgerbook

I. Supplication

RAPHAEL ANDREUS SCHOONEBEEK


To kneel at last and clutch your knees
To chant a curse into your belly

may no one watch him
piss in the moonlight

may tongueless he bless
his last handful of coins

To wait until dusk fills with mosquitos
To bite my name into your arm

may a hummingbird mistake
his hands for honeysuckle

may the rain gutter
water his palms

To lay your beard in leaves
To witness the cheekbones underneath

may only the dog
lick salt from his feet

may he dream the dead
bark at his headboard

To write your name in wet cement
To sweep the dust of your breath

may his days pass
as kidney stones pass

may stones pass
his bones back to God

II. Interrogation

RAPHAEL ANDREUS HENDREK SCHOONEBEEK


Since you leave me
these little seedlings

of your name
what can I do but build

you a garden
Eat your dead

one harvest
at a time

is that not all
the earth has ever said?


III.Symphony

RAPHAEL ANDREUS HENDREK JOZEF SCHOONEBEEK


If I say the silence which shapes
your body is a thunderhead nothing breaks

movement of cinder under brush

or else I'll arrive at your deathbed
holding two whiskeys and a box of licorice

movement of smoke over bark

this moment I refuse the chance to lie
inside your body as inside a ditch

movement of flame under branch

to author whatever mischief remains
cooking in your little charcoal throat

sonata of ashfall over sundown