Rainfall blurs in, I ghost out.
A jasmine candle turns liquid
as time melts, sweet and hazy.
Orange flame flutters, its glow
seeping into the dusky bedroom
where I fake sleep, wet nails drying,
clear coat, fists cracking softly
open like fresh pale rosebuds.
The roses outside skitter vine
tendril against my windowpane,
tapping hellos on my forehead. 
Waiting for reprieve, I curl up,
migraine sizzling, restless, heavy.
In my backyard view, there is a rabbit 
warm and safe from the storm beneath
the garden swing. Her red eye
beckons me, stepping stone,
to crawl from my burrow, follow
her away, to whirlpool into dream. 

An honest artist will never make it
using conventional wisdom

We don’t have much time
We never really did
And if you thought you were exempt from this
You were wrong
So that’s why God sent me here tonight
To preach to you from the book
Of John
And I don’t mean the Baptist
I mean one who preached what he practiced
The same type of time I’m o–
–wait, hold on–
If I really told you what I thought I’d be dead wrong
So instead
I’ll give you a view of the alternate thoughts
Inside my head
See, I parked in the lot off High Street and MLK
You know, the lot owned by UK
(You can park there for free after 730 but from that you ain’t heard me)
And just to make sure I had the money to get in your establishment
I’ll take from theirs, it’s fair play
But
Anyway
I was waiting at the stoplight to cross on Broadway
Word to the Melroy
And I almost stepped on this little white boy
With blonde hair and a hat on like the little Jetson
….Elroy
And I looked up at who I assumed was his dad
And instead of getting mad he said
“I’m sorry we were in your way”
And I was like, nah, that’s cool
It’s ok
I was trying to get across and I didn’t see him
He said “nah, it’s our fault”
And the light didn’t change 
So I got a real good chance to take him in
And he was about my size, 5’11, 5’10
Wiry but slim
White dude with a long beard
And we’re still waiting to
Cross the street
And we’re still waiting and our eyes meet
And he says,
“I’m really sorry for the way we are”
He paused
“Towards y’all”
And I took it in and thought,
Shit,
If I wasn’t so afraid of strangers
We’d probably be friends
And before I got to speak again
He leaned in
And asked me
“Do you fuck with John Brown?”
I whispered to him 
(Cause of the kid)
Motherfucker, I’m down
I’m hip to who you talking bout
Say less
We could get real deep bout dude
But it’s little kids around 
And he said “cool, so check this out…”
“We couldn’t have built this all without you,
So we owe you all
Without you this shit we have would crumble and fall
And for this a great debt we need to repay
So if it can’t be in cash
Then folks like me are going to have to risk their pale ass
That’s why I wanted to ask if you knew who John Brown was”
I sat back stunned like…yeah, for sure, cuz, go on
So then he said, today, I told him that I realized
That I had to tell *him*
That some of us are Evil,
Evil people
And that’s why we fight back
That’s why we support those who defend themselves from
Bullies at games
That’s why we stand up for those who don’t look like us when they’re 
Calling them names
That’s why we stand on the right side of history
And then
The light changed
And I realized we had just been standing there
And he moved his hand
To let me go in front of them
And that wasn’t lost on me
I really hoped I finally met a white man in Kentucky who
Would give it all up for me
He said
“Don’t forget about John Brown”
and I said 
I won’t 
Not as long as there are white folks 
Like you around

Could we ignore
elation of age?
Landmark moments,
entrances into adulthood,
but what we lose is
regretted, forgotten,
alienated for survival,
tremendously irreplaceable.
Everlastingly cherish instead

Childhood.

It’s just I like sharing, and
word dishes
are the best thing I make.

Please scoop large servings 
of yourself
onto my plate too.

I am holding it out to you.

I’ve already decided how I’ll mourn you
when you’re gone.
Buying a far too expensive candle at Christmas
from the local luxury goods shop, where they knew
you by sight and kept special flavors in the back
for you. A spiral cut ham
at Easter, glazed in fancy honey. Bubbles
in the grocery store, blown furtively around 
corners. 

I’ve been taking notes
all these years
for when the time comes. 

hiss to tip to tail to marsh

tall grass fangful mighty and harsh

herpeticde sidewinding

adderall addering

tongue blinding scale walls with scaled sidings

rattling smatter corn snake’s attar

air bladder sea serpent surfing blue matter

whole eggs swallowed faster

wholly chicken coop disasters

skip the juicy reddest splatter

curate castrate castigate clatter

king cobra cottonmouth anaconda

queen the south

patens plated with anaphora painted

patent moccasin annular braided

snakeskin coral hognose hogwashed

diamondback doubleback doubledown waiting

wise and carated and ouroboros created

jewel mouth venom

long death

long body

spear whip weeping wounds and weal

I’m Smothering in this heat 
I pull at my shirts collar 
Fanning my damp skin
summer came early 
a force to be reckoned with 
she’s settled in these hills 
hanging heavy in the air 
clinging to your lungs with each struggling breath 
I wipe my forehead 
it’s only June 
The dog days haven’t came yet 
But for some reason I can’t stop panting 

one day my love will live beyond the confines of page,
livelier than ribbon flowing ink of pen,
more colorful than any language spoken or written
in any of the languages i’ve never bothered to learn

these days, it is no longer my fear of the light holding me back;
i have had my moments in the sunshine-
with lovers who may have cloaked me in too much shade

but someday, i will feel worthy

to bring my adorations further than a lonely poem
on a longing night,
full of wistfulness for light

and the warmth of her embrace

She ain’t your average Madonna,