stale pizza
wafts through the air
half of
these games are
broken
and the other half
might as well be
this chair is
uncomfortable
too low to the ground
and rips all
over the faux
leather cushion
i feel like i died
and this is the hell
this poor sinner
was sent to
then i look at your face
as you sprint across
the sticky soda floor
and you are so
happy
the ache isn’t just in my head tonight
it’s concrete
it’s like shackles
it’s deep into my bones
it ripples through my veins
making my whole self hurt
i don’t want to leave forever
i just want a break from right now
just a few moments of not feeling
i don’t know how to explain
how i want to be here
but not want to be here
all at the exact same time
so i’m just sitting here with it
counting my breaths
wanting the air to feel a little lighter
and for the ache to fade
In the bathroom,
during our Spanish class,
we hid in the handicap stall together
as girls in search of themselves.
We shared sips of our drinks.
You offered me your cup, as I offered you mine.
Our lips pressed against something
that the others had already warmed.
Neither of us would ever be thirsty with the other.
We shared our lip gloss and chapstick
when one of us had forgotten hers.
We were just being girls together
looking to feel something and
find ourselves in the midst of holding someone else.
You were my friend
and I loved you.
My lips were chapped,
but you had put the cap back on your lip gloss,
you had already stuck it into your purse.
Pieter Breugel, “Landscape with the fall of Icarus”, c. 1555-56
And no plough will stop
the plunge
see intelligent hands
whip lines
dreaming of being anywhere
but here
where Minos and Daedalus lose
their sons
and still the sun shines
Pallas’s prize
Presented to deaf ears
calloused eyes
Did you hear about
the man-eating Zlorporphs
that docked in San Francisco?
It’s just terrible
-a real shame, really-
what happened to all of those people
living out there on the coast.
You give me an honest, non-surge, fair market,
respect-the-customer type of price on the fruit of the valley
and I won’t have to shoplift any vegetables of the field
(allegedly)
Be shamed for locking away baby formula.
Be shamed for hearing hunger and seeing dollar signs.
Need is never a thief,
Want almost always is.
People seek moments
Safe, self-contained in their cars
Like a treed squirrel
Once a safe place
To hide out
Your miniature home
The middle of the pandemic
Now people in cars
Everywhere
Talking to a spouse
A girlfriend, a boyfriend
That kid down the block
Safe, when you got no place to go
When you can eat your lunch
Nobody’s bothering you
Isolated, separate
People in cars
Everywhere
How long you been sittin’ in that car?
You arrest me.
Raucous pink buffered by lavender shore–
swimming though your tides I see clouds like fish,
swathed in iridescent scales of coral, gold, cerulean.
Show me the boundary between your depths
and the beyond. Where does our atmosphere
end and the galaxy begin?
You are an ocean inverted.
There is an infinite reflection of sky and sea,
the origin of which I cannot fathom.
What concerns me is the visible light spectrum of the spider
climbing my window. I hope she can see your marvels
and wonder at this margin of waters, this storm
of fire and sea that we simply call the dawn.
not sure what went wrong,
or when
just woke up one day sitting in my office chair
(thought there was more to write, but nah
you get it)
Hit my car
I’ll never cry
Just drive along
Keeping straight tonight
Shoot your gun
I’ll never cry
Pick my poisons
Maybe die tonight
Close your eyes
Tears break mine
Know I’m boring
Forget me tonight
