Blood on Lilac’s Boot

He went in the rain. And he left his armor.
I found it in the stables covered with mud. It was two paces from the pigs.
And a sword tucked into hay
Baled for the horse to chew

I went to find my brother
The brother taken.
They inspired fear with fire and hound
B l   o o d t r a i l s

I wished for salt
On their pillows

And I was a fisherman
Big trout, but those were only the good days
When the sun sent pink crawling through sky.
And I took the sword and I reeled and reeled and swore
That I couldn’t sit with myself
Even if I tried to catch mantis
Or koi for my brother

Where he went his teachings went with him
My lilac,
She sucked on fig pits
And avocado cores
In the shower

The first invader
I cut off his ear
As I had heard of Van Gogh
And I had thoughts, too
That it would make a good haiku

And I stopped in front of a lilac tree
That had one avocado
Growing from one limb

And when I past that lilac tree
I smelled the universe
And thought it might just be all God’s dream
As then my head was cut off