these are no ordinary orders
it's time to tamper with the table with the napkins on it
this is no test or emergency broadcast:

emergency
this is an emergency
emergency
this is an emergency
urgent
this is urgent
urgent
this is urgent
help
we need help
help
we need help
someone
we need somebody
someone
we need somebody please
please
please this is an emergency
please
please this is urgent

this is no ordinary outline
it's time to take the tape and bind the table to the legs
this time let's hope the ground is ordinary

help
please we need help
help
somebody please

sitting all around your grandmother's table
trying all of the different foods
everything tastes like everything is tasteless
[you should have tied the table to the fridge]
everyone is hurting and everyone has work to get to in the morning

[can you taste this?]

he smelled like hairspray
i'm scared i misspoke
i drank a full pint
he shared a cigar
we smeared a story
he laughed and i cried
he cried and spoke
"aim to slumber o'er?"

i was a leaf
and i never felt alone
i was a match
and life was sweet but life was short
i was a dinosaur
and i could see great distances
then i was reborn
as something
weird...

passenger pigeon
playing the violin
messenger pigeon
manning the telegram
carrier pigeon
rowing the row boat
rock pigeon
is feral

homing pigeon
working for a living
ice pigeon
signing in pen
fantail pigeon
dusting the skywalks
rock pigeon
is still feral

florentine pigeon
sits in his window
hungarian pigeon
hides by the door
cumulet pigeon
opens the factory
rock pigeon
is now extinct

left handed men
take the girls out dancing
under each of the five stars

carriages drawn by
birds of paradise
lined with white lily orchids

cufflinks monogramed
and adjusted with the right hand
in polite niceties

pianos in ashes
twinkling diamonds keys
of baroque music

like cathedrals

mark linkous

syd barret

jean-claude lauzon

person buried at the Maritime Archaic site at Port au Choix, Newfoundland, dating to about 2000 BC, was interred clothed in a suit made from more than 200 Great Auk skins, with the heads left attached as decoration.^[50] Nearly half of the bird bones found in graves at this site were of the Great Auk, suggesting that it had cultural significance for the Maritime Archaic people.^[51]

garefowl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roc_(mythology)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaotra_Grebe - only one picture of this bird ever taken

This was the male specimen "Incas," who died within a year of his mate "Lady Jane." Coincidentally, Incas died in the same aviary cage in which the last Passenger Pigeon, "Martha," had died nearly four years prior.^{[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Parakeet}

^{Cher Ami decorated pigeon}

the light comes in all directions
the camera looses face
inside a mere mode of perception
outside a mirror of intersecting planes
her blurry picture...
this blurry picture...
no more...

he hit the ground running
she hit the ground and she fell and she stuck

he took to the freeway
and she stayed stuck to the ground of the parking lot

he took out a bi-i-ig loan
and she began to to deeeecay

they weren't no tourist trap couple

he landed on four feet
she had nine lives and they were all up

he exited the freeway
while she lie still with a sign in her mouth

he took out another big loan
that he would never pay off

and she zoned out

they weren't no tourist trap couple
they weren't no stage show couple
they weren't caged carriage couple
they weren't no age old couple

he hit the ground running
and he ran and he ran and he ran

she had no plan
aside from a slab of grass

and a lot of money

they weren't no tourism trap couple
they weren't no BBC couple
they weren't no caged parakeets
they weren't no trained chimpanzees

and so i'll hit the ground running
and i'll run and i'll run and i'll run

and you can do what you want
stay where you stay
and play with the notion of tourism

i'll take out my loans
without intention to repay
and you will decay
when the parachute doesn't open

did the child see her shadow?
when she was carried over the threshold
did the groom chase the ball into the street?

did he look both ways
when he threw the bouquet?
was the bride elevated off her feet?

was the assistant really cut in half?
did the crowd really applaud?
was the magic wand ready for the honeymoon?

does the ice sculpture come back to life
after it melts away?
does the cake contain any cocaine or was i imagining?

was harmonica enough music
for the whole reception party?
did the army have to storm the limousine?

did the blues man catch the wink
that the bridesmaid gave him?
or did the blue jean dresses confuse him?

we're like a bus full of strangers
who all root for the same team
we're like a boat full of ex-cons

did the baby ever wake up
after he was sung to?
did the singer really need to quit the band?

did the schoolmarm attend the wedding?
did she bring a present from the registry?

a bus full of strangers
decided to start a band
te bus driver played rag time piano
and the ladies hiked up their skirts
there window washers just watched
but didn't stop washing
the little children
sang in their three note rang
and everyone held hands
at the end of the ride
and off the cliff
and into the stars
a buss full of strangers
could live forever

she said "you taste like an ashtray"
i said "that's just my firewire"
she said "

this eye's shaped like one
and this

there are no blinds on a t.v. screen
there's hardly room to move

cc..bcc..

maple apron covered oven cable canyon colored crayon
double diming grave-robbing apple bobbin son of a sam i am
stapled eyelashes coke-bottle glasses Kentucky bluegrass loving jack in the box

rain collection
racing raindrops
on

silhouettes drawn in condensation
racing raindrops erasing

someone wrote "help"
on the back of this bus window
in the condensation
and the raindrops erased it
did i see the siren?
did i sound the alarm?
has everyone retired to the shelters?
with their security blankets
who wrote "help?"
with the cold bony finger of the grim reaper
who needs help?


like chewing ice
when she's awake
and then the sun rises


like biting nails
when she's alone


like pulling hair
off an automobile accident
like chewing ice

filling cracks
in the vinyl
with memories

ice skating through the pileup
picking daisies off corpses
and digesting them