Consciousness

---

sitting in a Sydney ashram
chanting soar-throated psalms;
     Hare Krishna
     Hare Krishna
his holiness Ghanashyam asks us
to call him shyam for short;
     Krishna Krishna
     Hare Hare
the soul leaves, the body replaced
by another by the scent of your soul
     Hare Rama
     Hare Rama
like rose petals to roses
like shit to glorious shit
     Rama Rama
     Hare Hare
repeat these sacred words
a hundred-and-eight times
still don't know what they mean
that's okay because divinity
doesn't need me to be divine
it just is
all things surrounding
that is
all things and me
     Hare Krishna
     Hare Krishna
animals without karma
men with karma
until they fuck it lost
and become animals
until they do
their time
and are reborn as men
to fuck it again
     Krishna Krishna
     (Sorry Sorry)
I'm not being present
(presence the divine)
(presence the sanctuary)
I'm thinking of my rosary
and how I fucked it lost

and Lesian
the sahri-eyed individual
fed on raw carrots and almond milk
bred patricide from swollen womb
lactose intolerant to the gluten-free
mother goddess to the veganities
like Joel Osteen on Sunday morning
even Australia can't escape
the great American dream

---

Tanning

Tanning

she used to wear bracelets
so many they eclipsed her thin wrist
and pinched my skin at night
as I kissed to kill
time so delicate it bruised purple
under the moonlit window with
the dead roses; I forgot
to throw them out
and now it's too late
because it's been two years
she doesn't wear bracelets anymore
she took off the waterproof watch
so I can't ask her the time
she was tired of the marks they left
when the sun painted her skin
but stripped her wrists pale

Acclimating

Acclimating

the first rule of diving: breathe
slowly in, slowly out
or you'll rise
and expand
and eventually
POP! like a balloon
soaring
too high
too fast

i feel i've forgotten (how) to breathe
it's not so easy to forget
i feel i did
your stones in my pocket
don't skip more than twice
and i'm surfacing
heavy and high
passing my bubbles
(a bad sign)

i awake above the waves
my ear drums blasted
in salt, and
teary-eyed
fumble
into the coral shore
not noticing
my bleeding soles