Posts for June 17, 2023 (page 7)

At Al’s where poets play,  

I smoke resinous weed
on porch, its scent swirls
around silk skirts I don,
learning to refuse
bourbon, wildfire
in my blood, too late
before challenging
a poet a playful
game of patty cake, yet
the picture reveals fierce
eyes locked erupting
in laughter until under
spotlight on stage,
behind mic, passions
turn serious, souls offering
painful laments, sobs, howls,
more laughter, shouts, murmurs
about mountaintop mastectomies,
women surviving trauma,
a Vietnam vet recalls lost soldiers,
someone recites a Civil War rhyme 
we excuse ourselves back to patio,
lighting cigarettes, waiting our turn,
assuring each other talent on tap
more meaningful than the pitchers
we empty in rounds, laughing
about liquid courage, feeling
like this is important. This
monthly gathering of souls
profound, those little stapled
pages of verse as significant
as any heavy anthology I once
studied, then taught, now write
poems we dare to speak.

Strong coffee & it is not dawn not yet day

sometimes, i move things around
in my brain, adding the context
i create to justify, to myself,
why i’m sticking the things where
i’m sticking them

but there is always a note
attached, specifying where 
the thing actually belongs
and i’ve yet to find a way
to delete these notes

and my brain has an audit
feature that finds these
truths and insists they
be moved to the proper place
and i cannot rest
until i’ve have done so

i have a friend who does not
have this audit feature and
seems at total peace
with the quality of her mind,
with no conscience pestering
her thoughts 

and i wonder if my friend
can every feel love or joy
or the pleasure of giving 
to others, but i don’t doubt
she can feel hate, because
i’ve seen it often enough

and so i think there is 
something key in having
a mind that does not rest, 
rather, that questions
and tests and considers
possibilities, that can
both stand and yield,
that can connect
in an honest way
with other minds

i shared this thought
with my friend, who
shared her vacant smile
in return and said
nothing

Greetings Dear Friend!

My Beloved in Christ, 
I Have a Business Proposal
for you. Permit me to share
with you, my desire to go into
a Godly business partnership with you.

Why won’t the weight come off?

I wanted to reach out personally.
Don’t worry, there’s no bad news!
In fact, I’m hoping this will
motivate you to get started 
with your personal wellness
journey sooner. First of all,
I got you a 79% discount!
But why did I do it?

Claim Your BOGO Free!

Beloved I apologize for contacting you
through this means for an important offer,
how are you & your family over there?

Buenos dias querido, recibiste mi email?

I am contacting you
because the recent report
from my Doctor told me that
I have some weeks to live
due to cardiac & kidney failure
problem, having known my condition
I seek your permission
to present you to the bank
as my late husband foreign investors
to retrieve the fund ($15,000,000)
& utilize for establishing orphanages home
for the poor & needy, & also
propagating the word of God
& to endeavor that the house of God
is maintained.

You’ve Been Chosen!

No one should ask you
to run 10 miles a day
or cut out your favorite foods!

But don’t take our word for it!
Take theirs!

Good Day,
Sorry for introducing on your Privacy.

Final Hours!

Urgent letter from the hospital
on a money transaction.
I am an American soldier,
Please get back to me
for more detail.

Do you Speak Engllsh?

My colleague Stephanie
just found you on Instagram
& loved your content!
Similar accounts to yours
are CRUSHING it on Instagram—
from what I’ve seen, you could be doing
even better than them!

Hey Did My Mail Find You Well?

You need to provide your full information
signifying your interest.
1. Full Name:
2. Home or Office Address:
3. Telephone Number:
4. Age:
5. Sex:
6. Occupation:
7. Marital Status:
8. Nationality:
9. A scanning copy of your passport or ID card:

Hello Dear one, 
Did you receive my previous mail???

Transform Your Skin!
It fixed my skin lickity split,
leaving me with normal skin
& a glowing complexion!

Your Payment Has Been Processed!

Please I need an honest person
who will take very good care
of this project.

7 Hours It’s Over!

Your contact was an act of God
& why I had to choose you divine
& I cannot question my God.

Sincerely,
Your Sister in Christ.

order                without
                          with no
or                      with
adding             without

start
instead              without
of                        with
add                     with
a pinch
of light

try                       with
now
lower                  with
then
below                  without
a small
amount               with

may also
be                          with
all from
before
ask                         with
more down          without

I’ve lived on Big Mountain
for almost five years. Thirty acres
of forest & tumbling rock. Song-cries

of Whip-poor-will in summer. Snowfall
brings fireplace fires with ax-chopped
wood. I prefer snuggling inside

like a just-hatched warbler. Weather fronts
drift by. Resembling a piece of pale
yellow honeydew; often the moon

swells larger at this elevation. My husband,
my divine opposite, prefers memorizing
the land. He hikes it daily — 300 trees

planted, one natural water spring found,
two Copperheads sighted. (Only God
knows the amount of ticks.) He even plants

hard-to-grow-in-Kentucky trees, like Bristlecone
Pine. The oldest one in the world, Methuselah,
is 4,854. His Bristlecone is named Aristotle

& only grows an inch a year, he’s four
inches tall now. One day I will tell you more
about the stubborn Bristlecone but this

is about our intertwining. I’m the one
who watches the news & sometimes takes
action. He’s the one who fashions walking

sticks from deadfall. I’m the one who stacks
books on side-tables like sculpture. He listens
for the quiet shuffling of bobcat, ear to the wind.

The peacock’s cry 
too close to human.
Stones that cause 
the skin to blister.
A dream of death 
yet still you wake.
Tree bent 
from wind and rain.
Trail that ends 
at a thorny gate.
One born 
from the union 
of two.

The world 
is a mysterious place.

You belong here.

Flakes of oxide green paint

once uniformly coated the oversized front porch

now swirl in corners

and line each darkened edge

up to the threshold.

She sits on porch steps

holding mulberry tree branch

Stirring shavings, separating mounts

separated by size –

managing thoughts.

Removed from the crowd inside,

the porch steps offer protection

as she reflects –

reflects on complexity,

horror,

and sweetness. 

Whitewashed slats shelter the heart

from seasonal swing

dustbowl heat of California summers,

wicked wind, and trembling rain

that follows through winter.

Her mind wanders.

Then focus’ to examine recently cleaned

no longer worn or dirty handrails –

Handrails that guide towards welcoming front stoop

and bright chartreuse mat.

Shiny new spindles

but somehow you missed – Missed coating the concrete.

we follow the sound
to an empty parking garage–
a bagpiper performing

animal jealousy against
 
thing
squealing
in the curtains
they cook for it
twice
a day
cod
insects
gourds

i want my mother
here
and
the cook is not
my mother
the thing is
not me

i know what i feel
and why
and
i still
nearly
reach out
my
fist