He was like the town bike
everyone got a ride. He was like a ride
that made me vomit. He was like the vomit
I spewed in a Wendy’s parking lot.
He was like a parking lot I lay
down in and let the hail beat and bruise me.
He was like a bruise you discover but can’t
remember where it came from.
What did you smack into?
By now you know his hands
were threats. By now you know
his hands were switches. He was like
the switching breeze that smacked
the chimes against my house the morning
I found out he’d hung himself.
Tag: new poetry
my shadow
my train.
Luck, this much
is plain:
hatchet face,
ratchet grin.
The bin
needs emptying
again—
too little.
It’s true, I’m in
the middle
The least cricket of evening
is invisible, naked except for
its tiny violin, the lost bell
of its heart. Somewhere
in this room my terracotta
cricket with its sap-colored eyes
raises a hair-thin quiver
What music would Korsakov write
if he were here on earth as the bees
are dying? Their hives weightless lungs
paper lanterns swaying on the wind?
Their queen done telling her endless
stories to stay alive, no longer daughter
of the immortal gods: Father Frost
and Mother Spring, her heart melting
for the love of a man.
ma always said that water cleanses you
inside and out
if ya bored, take a shower
if ya sick, drink water
if ya sad, take a shower
if ya leg broke, drink water
if ya stank, take a shower
And then it came back to me as I heard
a young boy practice his violin
under the concrete canopy of the park’s amphitheater
Without help now
I can maneuver myself
upright, then supine to correct
the wind spinning my brain
from myself. My face angled
and pillow propping my shoulders,
Keep away from drugs.
Don’t go near the crazy neighbor.
The drugs can burn your eyes out,
and he might stab your dog