Sometimes we lock eyes,
And I see the picket fence.
A stone house with
Too many windows–
Yellow walls, yellow rugs, yellow lights,
Golden accents, golden cutlery, golden mirrors,
A black cat
With a white belly,
Cilantro that bloomed
And turned to coriander,
Cold drinks, cold winters, cold tile,
Hot cocoa, hot concrete, hot heads,
Broken china, and make-up sex,
Eating the last Oreo left, and dinner alone.
Sometimes we can’t lock eyes,
And all I see is home.
And the walls come down
pillars dead on pyres of bricks
stained glass pocked with holes
like a blinded man who prayed in brail
All is now lifeless
All is now faithless
pulled down by mechanical pagans
Hose water tamps the dust
the synagogue’s last glass of wine
as the sentence is carried out
Men in hardhats
witness the death
Trucks cart away
the remains
There is no kaddish
for a fallen synagogue
No Jews come to pray
or even to stay the final decree
for these old bricks ceased to be
holy holy holy
so many epochs ago
Still one hardhat wonders
why the Jews didn’t save
the windows
With Thor’s hammer,
the goddess
shattered the sun.
When I look at those old photos in the book collecting dust in the spare bedroom
I marvel at the fresh-faced kids smiling back at me
how young–
and naiive we were then
and now
Not fully aware of what was yet to come
the sorrows
the joys
the gift of our partnership through it all
My heart still skips a beat
when I look at the small moment
that microsecond before our eyes meet–
the look that you gave me then
the look that I still catch you giving me now
frozen on the glossy paper for part of eternity
As time speeds up to catch us
and and we slow down to meet it
so we can thank it for this moment before it springs ahead of us
I think how lucky we are to be older
with wisdom growing then
and wisdom collecting now
together
in a new photograph
off a page
on a screen
still with you
You were the storm,
unable to settle down,
finding your safe harbor.
And I,
had to set sail.
Bullard balls crack and
spill across the velvet.
The condensation from the soda
rolls down the back of my hand
Bought my friend an aumoretto sour
made love to it with my eyes
Have you ever been addicted to a person.
It felt like dope withdraw at the end.
shaking in a hoodie
waiting for you
One more month and I get my blue chip
Almost have my bronze from you
Oh the stars in your eyes,
I’ve never seen them shine so bright.
This is the kind of thing that makes me want to
tell you I’m in love with you.
Were you mine, could I keep you?
Could you promise me the world too?
Never enough, brown eyes meet mine
Sign your name, on my mind.
Take me on your whirlwind,
let this new life begin
honestly I’m beggin’
for you to let me love you
Because the stars in your eyes,
I’ve never seen them shine so bright
and all that makes me want to do
is tell you I’m in love with you.
Darkness
water dripping from the eaves
distant traffic
Trees are taking shape
in the blue blackness
conversation of birds
companionable as chickens
invested in their lives
as we are in ours
Daylight
taking intself seriously now
squirrels chasing up and down
aggressive the mode of the day
