The Zero Country

In pursuit of  the fugitive     I have become him

summer and the weather its own arrogance

Light is the softest government until it isn’t

::

Summer and the weather its own arrogance

light is the softest government until it isn’t

I’m looking for the plantation     I’m looking

::

Light is the softest government until it isn’t

I’m looking for the plantation     I’m looking

for the skull-chorus     All I find is tender heads

::

I’m looking  for the plantation     I’m looking

for the skull-chorus     All I find is tender heads

of cotton     the grammar of amnesia is a season

::

for the skull-chorus     All I find is tender heads

of cotton     the grammar of amnesia is a season

a recursion     a withering of maps    I dust the air a rumor

::

of cotton     the grammar of amnesia is a season

a recursion     a withering of maps     I dust the air a rumor

unforgivable heat     My father asks if I am the last

::

a recursion     a withering of maps     I dust the air a rumor

unforgivable heat     My father asks if  I am the last

Randall     Imagine your whole lineage unspooled by a moan

::

unforgivable heat     My father asks if  I am the last

Randall     Imagine your whole lineage unspooled by a moan

on the soil     Inside me the boy’s eyeless head crowns and uncrowns

::

Randall     Imagine your whole lineage unspooled by a moan

on the soil     Inside me the boy’s eyeless head     crowns and uncrowns

We don’t make children     we make a summer     I find myself the end of kings

::

on the soil    Inside me the boy’s eyeless head    crowns and uncrowns

We don’t make children we make a summer     I find myself the end of  kings

When I meant to say on the soil where my great grandfather convinced his captors

::

We don’t make children we make a summer     I find myself  the end of  kings

When I meant to say on the soil where my great grandfather convinced his captors

He was just like them    Recursion     I feel most colored when I sound white on the phone

::

When I meant to say on the soil where my great grandfather convinced his captors

He was just like them    Recursion    I feel most colored when I sound white on the phone

I flex my  jaw to silence    O fugitive, my fugitive    how endless    the field

 

I flex my jaw to silence     O fugitive, my fugitive     how endless     the field

This is the Zero Country and we call it that so long as it pleases the whites

of our teeth     The trees chatter the unanswerable     I want to pierce

::

This is the Zero Country and we call it that so long as it pleases the whites

of our teeth     The trees chatter the unanswerable     I want to pierce

the escape on a map like a boy     I want to blade     I want to know the where

::

of our teeth     The trees chatter the unanswerable     I want to pierce

the escape on a map like a boy     I want to blade     I want to know the where

so I know what to burn when the war becomes undeniable

::

the escape on a map like a boy     I want to blade     I want to know the where

so I know what to burn when the war becomes undeniable

pry the blonde teeth of August from the field and all the leaves crisp

::

so I know what to burn when the war becomes undeniable

pry the blonde teeth of August from the field and all the leaves crisp

to a pandemic of wings     Tar and feather     Call it history if you must

::

pry the blonde teeth of August from the field and all the leaves crisp

to a pandemic of wings     Tar and Feather     Call it history if you must

All I know is that from each torment     I make a bird     I shuck my name

::

to a pandemic of wings     Tar and Feather     Call it history if you must

All I know is that from each torment     I make a bird     I shuck my name

from the terrible song they make     and this is how I know

::

All I know     is that from each torment     I make a bird     I shuck my name

from the terrible song they make     and this is how I know

You gild a field with its silences     you gild a boy the same way

::

from the terrible song they make     and this is how I know

you gild a field with its silences     you gild a boy the same way

I don’t answer my father     I have tried to be the last before

::

you gild a field with its silences     you gild a boy the same way

I don’t answer my father     I have tried to be the last before

Failure has kept me alive     each morning I count the miles between

::

I don’t answer my father     I have tried to be the last before

Failure has kept me alive     so each morning I count the miles between

this bastard species of mercy and myself     All the weapon of memory

::

Failure has kept me alive so each morning I count the miles between

this bastard species of mercy and myself     All the weapon of memory

and still this triptych     A mutual captivity     is still a citizenship

 

And still this triptych     A mutual captivity     is still a citizenship

The criteria for sainthood is death     If the fire couldn’t unmake

anything but the language     I reserve my allegiance for a more muscular song

::

The criteria for sainthood is death     If the fire couldn’t unmake

anything but the language     I reserve my allegiance for a more muscular song

Dregs of hurricane against the Mississippi sky     The hounds bay accordingly

::

anything but the language     I reserve my allegiance for a more muscular song

Dregs of hurricane against the Mississippi sky     The hounds bay accordingly

I have a talent for making fugitives out of anything     I howl a bloom

::

Dregs of hurricane against the Mississippi sky     the hounds bay accordingly

I have a talent for making fugitives out of anything     I howl a bloom

of magnolias     Marooned as I am in this never-winter     I laugh

::

I have a talent for making fugitives out of anything     I howl a bloom

of magnolias     Marooned as I am in this never-winter     I laugh

into an amnesia of trees     After all     there are so many ways to die

::

of magnolias     Marooned as I am in this never-winter     I laugh

into an amnesia of trees     After all     there are so many ways to die

but I stick to Dick & Bullets     Subversion makes a petty weapon

::

into an amnesia of trees     After all     there are so many ways to die

but I stick to Dick & Bullets     Subversion makes a petty weapon

O great grandfather     what is the function of mercy?

::

I stick to Dick & Bullets     Subversion makes a petty weapon

O great grandfather     what is the function of mercy?

I am amongst the children of your captors and nobody remembers

::

O great grandfather     what is the function of mercy?

I am amongst the children of your captors and nobody remembers

that they gave you 24 hours     Sure     I’m the child of an escape

::

I am amongst the children of your captors and nobody remembers

that they gave you 24 hours     Sure     I’m the child of an escape

but I’m also the child of my own hands     Something tried to end us here

::

that they gave you 24 hours     Sure I’m the child of an escape

but I’m also the child of my own hands     Something tried to end us here

and in pursuit of the fugitive I have become him

::

but I’m also the child of my own hands     Something tried to end us here

and in pursuit of the fugitive     I have become him

Patiently     I watch the magnolia petals fall     pinked by blood or summer