Great, Dark Nation

I see the ones I love strewn like
stars across America --
thorn and spur in the dark
the lives we live are in the dark
We barrel through her cities,
tumbling in oil-stained streets
We drag our knuckles down her sidewalks
We spark and ash in her gutters
piss behind her fences
We swirl to her slurred songs,
we tremor to her boom and heartbeat
(I pull her slender hips close to mine,
rock her gently, meet her eyes)
Scattered across America -- we glitter
Great, dark nation
Stars whirring, streetlamps burning

I see the ones I love blown like
seeds across the plain --
dry and dusted eyes to the wild
the lives we live are to the wild
We trudge through the thick soils,
through the blood of America
We dig black nails into her skin
We move easy in her afternoons
astride her long crosswinds
We burrow in her broken ground,
we breathe slow at the fall of night
(I dream of grackles bobbing
along barbed wire in the dawn)
Scattered across America -- we sleep
Great, dark nation
Seeds waiting, grasslands swaying

I see the ones I love skipping like
stones across the water --
spiraling toward moss and mystery
the lives we live are for the mystery
We bound blazed and aimless
on the breaking rapids of America
We sink to her lazy depths
We settle among her lost multitudes
watch the sunlight ripple above
We lie still within her current,
we forget, we are forgotten
(I call out, my words dissolve
in her static and thunder)
Scattered across America -- we vanish
Great, dark nation
Stones hiding, waters rising