by Jim Dunn

Salty sailors are empty
of oceans in their eyes
Fallen angels ride
the wake on the starboard side
Serene Soldiers of the shattered evening
look alive and squared away
Cutting blue through the choppy seas
Following distant stars home.

by Jim Dunn

When you make a pact with yourself
And whisper the secret prayer
In the city of Sacraments, Sacred city
Sacremento
Lawns freshly mown at the mercy
Of the sadness of the sun
The smell of cut grass mingles with
The pungent punch of burnt rope
The deadline has passed
Filing a different kind of no return
Claiming ghost dependents
Leaving not one word
Signed silent treaty with
Your lemon demon diplomats
Warring nations cease fire
I won’t fight it anymore
I will swing like a trance
I won’t flutter moth-like in ruined shadows
I will swing from heaven on a beam of light

When you promise yourself
You are not fooling anyone
And you speed fantastic like a jester
Tripping in secret visions that
Chase you down the golden highways
Of the technicolor rainbow break
The heightened suspense of the collapsing mine
States your case in certain terms
Spooking the man on the stand
Being interrogated by a bare bulb

Seeing is I’m leaving
The truth is out there
Let it in.

A slip kid running in slow motion
Chasing down a fly ball
Makes the catch of a lifetime
Before the blast of hot air
And the explosion of pure pursuit
Curious child looks like a wild refugee
Almond eyes fine straight black hair
Fine as darkness

Black as soft rain
Sweet kid with a put-the-hammer-down left hook
Fierce fire consuming his matchstick mind
Tinder and kindling go up in mad smoke
A sudden burst of fury
Then the rain on scorched earth sings
The smoldering passion of his torched heart

by Jim Dunn

Babson Boulders sit still
The wind’s a ghost
Through the trees
A familiar friend

Off in the distance
Sudden bursts
Of gunfire
Echo in Dogtown

The invisible bull
Lowers his horns
Off the rocky road beaten path
Where basements sank
With the weight of spirits
Pirates, slaves, hookers
And strays
Rearrange the rolling rocks
For a new pasture message

Betting on the bull in the heather
With future considerations—
The divine Kao
Slams a man’s pride
against the boulder

Merry Jim raised the bull
To fight the bull
To die by the bull
On the secret spot
A wise man showed us

First gored there
Jim died here

A matador who
Could not tame
the boulders
or the calf he
raised as his killer

Wrestling fury
To the ground
Thrown upon

The stone
Where he died
Trying to prove
He was the man
Who beat the
Dogtown bull blues

In a sea of change
I bleed tears in the water
As the sharks circle

by Jim Dunn

The sun sets sights not on you
Maybe the raging water knows
How many tears are in
A drop of river rain
How many cries are in
A train whistle blast
There is nothing
Better
Nothing bitter
About parading around
The grounds
Laying low at low tide
Let the blasted boulder
Sink into the silty river mud
Footsteps are tall buildings
Seagulls scrape the sky
We walk amongst them
Gathering silent laughter
Into a bouquet of proses
Lines written
Lines drawn
In sandy hands
Of the pleading sea.