Posts for June 4, 2023 (page 2)

Red curtains wave long
parting sliver of light song
slow sipping Oolong  

Deep green, like wet moss
elegant velvet sofa
soft simmering thoughts  

Sardines on crackers
corn and black olives in cans
when I did not cook

Sunshine and roses
kitty cats in poses
raindrops falling gently
laughter flowing freely
time with my boys
life’s little joys

In the nightmare

for Chris

This matriarch mess is all new,
the way these young’uns look at me
and up to me. 
I ain’t nobody’s Mommy. 
Ain’t never been.
Didn’t I used to live in that apartment
right next to city park
and buy six packs and Tvar
for college kids at a steep markup?
Didn’t I used to stay up all night,
standing right next to a stack of speakers
and bouncing till my body 
and my ear drums hummed? 
Shit, I’m coming to grips with the fact

I about half ruined my hearing 
and I’m old enough to have friends 
who lay down and die in their sleep. 
Feels like forever and not so long ago 
we were posted up in bed half naked,
eating fried chicken, watching b-movies.
I wiped my greasy fingers on clean,
white, Holiday Inn sheets 
with wild and reckless abandon. 
Didn’t we used to think 
we were fucking invincible? 

The story
   sugar cane     rice      cotton    indigo
dominates the coast.
          Enslavement its source.
Don’t let the charm
   live oaks     spanish moss     magnolias
fool you.

And all those days
I felt like i was running around
with no skin.
All weeping flesh
and exposed nerve endings,
wincing at the touch of air
and overly loud noises.
Always waiting
for the other shoe to fall
on my nociceptors.

I feel for the man walking alone by the creek,

He was older, holding a fishing pole

Wearing a tshirt, a hat, and khakis

I wonder if he has a partner,

If he’s a recovering alcoholic

What his favorite color is,

If he’s okay

I wonder about the drunk girl I saw at a concert 2 weeks ago

If she got home safe

If she got to hear her favorite song

What her best friends name is

If she’s happy

I think about the friend that walked out of my life 3 years ago

If they made a new friend

If they loved me like I loved them

When they got that tattoo

If their mom ever got her dream job

I worry,

At what age do we comprehend death?
Not “your goldfish” kind of dying,
but humanity quaking, 
genocide, terrorists,
“scaled-up” kind of death. 
Do we ever 
comprehend
death from
hate?

Put a leg out, don’t hesitate

tho love smarts

lick a finger, test it in the wind

slide in a hip, jiggle it a bit

take it back

make a wing, chicken wing

stir the pot, spill the milk

take a chance