Historical Fiction
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i wish he’d taken that to hamlet
i wish he’d taken that to hamlet or to claudiushe’d brought them his dreams that woke him from his drowse nodded watchthere was something of young hamlet’s father marcellus dreamt the king from an afterlife claimedorestes had come to denmark he declared an apparition wandered the house of his sleepthrough the hallways of imaginationan apparition Continue reading
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no an old man’s cold love
no an old man’s cold lovewritten to warm the furrow of a fertile maidit always failsit’s undesiredinstead let me writewhat ophelia read from hamlet’s letter write doubt that the stars are fires doubt that the sun moves doubt the truth claiming liars but never doubt that i love young hamlet had a talent to speak Continue reading
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a prince and the son of a nobleman
a prince and the son of a noblemanone for six french swordsand one for six barbary horseswielded foils in their gauntletsfor the copper blondedaughter of the house of fugger wielda goose feathernightly dip the quill in the inkwellbetween the folds in the parchment writethe east shinesand radiant are theseas and the continents thatso briefly face Continue reading
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fold three folds in a sheet of
fold three folds in a sheet ofparchment on the table in your chamberlike a chambermaid folds a bedsheetlengthwise in the middleand in both middles between the middleand the edges to the left and to the rightin the eveningbefore your day’s last thought comes and goes to sleep with you foldthe page like a servant girl Continue reading
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ask nora if you can watch
ask nora if you can watchher unbind the ribbons unwindif you can watch her unbraidask if you can describeher hair as gilded silvertell her the sky’smade of filaments of spun goldthat it’s rooted in her headthat out of her head growsgilded heaven askif you can watch her hair fallcascade down the length of herlike a Continue reading
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your offering of wine poured
your offering of wine pouredout the window into mudreturn by the lane through the wheatfieldwith hands takensand skinned from the plow pull strawswith fingers takencallous skinned from the sickleweave a basketreturn to the vineyardfrom the grapevinewith a knife sharpened on a field stone cut a clusterlet it fall in the basket like a baptist’s headreturn Continue reading
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build a house to nora
build a house to noracall it a temple she’ll becomeinannaishtaraphroditemagdeleneput her hand in the hand of the shepherdin the hand of the groomin the hand of the priest to the temple Continue reading
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be emkindu
be emkindube cainbe the farmer whose offering is declinedoffer tammuzoffer ableoffer the shepherd of antwerphis meadow is the altarhis lambs are the sacrifice Continue reading
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let a lesser habsburg softened
let a lesser habsburg softened by the memory of nora’s beauty sighlose sleep daydream bankwith an absent mind lose fortunesgive him that stallion raisedin your father’s stablethat one you rodeinto wittenberg let him saddleride to the low countries to searchto find nora to be soft eyedto a faster meltingsoft voiced into a liquidlet him be Continue reading
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on the warm days of summers past
on the warm days of summers pastand on the warm days in the hope for many summers to comemy crutch is leftin my chamber and i strollalmost old to market square to buy a pound of wheatnow on this cold and winter day i agemy bones ache and the meetings of my bones paini lean Continue reading
About Me
I have a day.
Jake's Flea Market 