i want to tell you about when
i colored pink cats in the hospital and
barb sat down beside me, her apple phone with her dead husband
right there on the table.
the sound of ashley’s socked feet, how they must have felt after
always padding around,
and her constant prayer
about the alien matrix on her 40th birthday.
she’d ask almost anyone if they believed in jesus.
i told her that deep inside
there is a smaller me,
she fears god.
One knight says to the other:
Allow me to depart, brother,
and explore the village my own.
Bear arms and witness me.
The armored knight obliges,
standing stiff and tall with duty.
At his brother-in-arm’s return,
they share laughs and stories.
I had the grandest of times,
says the shieldless knight.
The people saw me
and flocked to speak.
The armored knight is inspired
and takes heed to announce:
It is my turn to depart now, brother.
I shall return by twilight’s hour.
The armored knight marches
with stiffness and height
down the village path,
clanking and clattering.
How heavy! To carry guarding
armor and shield. Alas,
not a soul spoke to him.
He returns with heavy breaths.
I do not understand, he says.
The people surely saw me.
I have made myself known.
Why did no one flock to speak?
where do you want to be in five years?
alive
no,
dead?
alive, definitely alive
don’t tell my therapist the dead part
i’d like to be
here
happy, i guess
comfortable
loved
wanted
alive, definitely alive
Do you remember what it feels like to be barefoot after the rain?
Blades of grass between my toes, conduit to the earth and all I know.
The afternoon sun descends the staircase welcoming home her lover.
Husband to the day, Night hangers a full moon so that she can stay with him.
Barefoot and cold, blades of grass catch the tears of their parting each morning.
You come upon me
half-starved, wanting
nothing to do with
this hunger. But
you remind me why
I hunger; it’s the body
trying to voice its needs.
More instinctual
than breathing, I
fall. And it keeps
choosing me back.
And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment.
I don’t just dance for anybody
and I definitely don’t dance for free;
you’re gonna need cash for a ticket
if you wanna feast your eyes on me.
But for the Force, the Buddha, the lap of God inside me;
I’ll surely, joyfully, red-facedly, shake my ass for Thee.
2 cm
by roughly
2 cm
(i’ve never been one for exact
measurements)
we found you
clinging to life
on a plant
that was already 10 feet
past death
the field you came from
had flooded
and the home you knew
had wilted
and yet there you stood
unbothered and
unwavering
because no one had informed you yet
that you shouldn’t
exist
the only fruit
this plant would
ever bear
a single strawberry
with stronger will then most
men i know
it’s skin as red
as the lips of the lover
who still resides in
your mind
i want to apologize
little survivor
because i sat there in that muddy field
and i picked you
and i want to thank you
as well
because you were
so sweet
Artifacted antiques
gifts given
issues inherited
frozen forever
Ambiguous things Memento Mori
reflected selves trompe l’oeil
cold violin carpe diem
spent candle coup de grâce
stained glass una vita ben spesa
stolen skull ivory mirror
No time ticking
a cracked walnut
dreams, dried ink
I was here
