Wrist of the Snake Killer

( for what its worth. ) -- Instruction:  How to know there's nothing left ~ you've over-stayed your visit         I recall the sun of old thoughts seeped under:         ~ How to 'Improve the world' ~ leave something useful behind ~ something better.     --Instruction:  The first evil act is eating      I see the shocked wine bottles     steak sauce and     jutting ribs of celery bunches     the next shelf     down      but if i eat the stings     of honey bees claws     of the great bear follow     these wild-flower trails up     into conspiracies of wood and whispers     where all else watching following is santified     by my return     but men weep weed broken sorrow condemned     See the little beetle there     safe          crouched in a crusted earth church sleeping in a god circle only men careen cloudward   wandering into the gray ends of the world     Now the old oil lamp bends     the kitchen dark     the lines dark forms looming from the side I see myself ablaze in the still hours before dawn     it doesn't show on my face though   sad like salt or shadow spent     like ash gone cold     07/06/01