i.        (altars)

last night
an uncircumcised balloon
floated across       the lavender sky
above amsterdam,
grazing the flight path
of a thousand sleeping angels
on its way to fuck           god;

& we laughed
until the tears came
like rain to a sun-boiled root-

it took all these lives
to make shame our friend
& so much death
to make life
our song.

ii.       (sacrament)

hours later-
a cathedral with a shattered window;

i tilt my head back
as the red hand passes   gullward
& yesterday bites the cheek
of a here it longs to be.

i ask the cashier,

would you rather know
who you are?

or what you’ve done?

iii.      (mass)

there is a mirror   in the sky:
look up & know
we are all of us angels,
pinned        against the earth
by heaven’s weight.