blues for eagle feather

I.
blue sky bird with speedy fingers
daughter of three
wife of twenty-one days

amateur guitar god
sweet croon blues devil
brother in chronic
brother in wine
brother in chemical cocaine
stumbling into my bed
four a.m. plastic sheeting
rusty springs tetanus creaks
spun for one more fix
begging my sister for life
(please take)
a quarter of (please take)
one
half of your stash (please
take me) home
to feathers
and hunters
and prayer unholy

dear doctor professor:
my brother fucks with a snorter and crushed powder do you think this is safe?

I am afraid of the answer.

II.
Keen
for my brother he walks with eyes in flame
hopping one foot two foot
over smoke and woodcore
from Poulsboro to
Gratton and back
to the Rossi bottle in the middle
of the sea

what shall we feed our brother
who escaped death once?
who kisses dollar bills
and made friends with the snow
who is afraid of his life
and opens his fingers to
tearing teeth and night terrors

III.
Afternoon and the wooden table
blank verse
seventies vomited all over poets
we are all part of his waking
death

brother and sister I kiss
his lips beneath a table
and my lips catch
a powder sigh

pale cheeks (in sleep)
with body's tears

IV.
Eagle Feather, Eagle Father
our mornings are peppered
with rolled up bills and
empty pens
we cough into ink

our stash is in J's bag
but our fix is nowhere to be found

God is a junkie and he sold salvation
until I murdered him
with
a kiss