Mister Morningstar

mister morningstar
how do you take your coffee
sitting on the back step next to the cat
the lemon tree is overswollen

mister morningstar
how do you tread in the cocytus
and wave away the buzzing droplets
of all the slighted furies

mister morningstar
you got a letter from the company man
saying he’d cut your pay
you took a stand and he beat you up

mister morningstar
you feel like you can’t love
you want to weave light into the world
but it’s all you can do to sit on the back step

for now

The Succour of Seven Friends

For Raphael
For taking me seriously
For dropping gentle words into my well of loneliness
For messaging links to ambient tunes

For Gabriel
For talking about animals when you didn’t know what to say
For wanting to come out to Kawau with me
For being my fellow nonboy-nongirl

For Uriel
For sharing anecdotes about David Byrne and talking meme-shit
For saying Lol good question
When I wrote Like, man, what’s the fucking point of it all

For Chamuel
For letting me know I’m not the only one who worries about the collapsing world
For being so wise
For agreeing that Paddington is the best feel-good movie

For Zadkiel
For saying I had the right to feel—even anger
For encouraging me to take a bath
For leaving candles burning there, next to the water

For Jophiel
For letting me know I’m not the only one who worries about paranoid delusion
Yeah man it’s like—what Tony Soprano said
I’m the reverse Midas—everything I touch turns to shit

And for Michael
For taking the hardest journey with me
For leaving memory on my lips
For needing space
And for playing Brooke Fraser