Waking up soapy-smelling
and sore next to you
I was victim of an accident, a
wreck waiting to happen
I was doing shots of you
But i didn’t quit
when i needed to
Then you were too much
in my blood–
Neither of us belonged behind
that wheel…
Continue reading Black Tar
third monday always follows third sunday–
certain as clockwork and
death, taxes.
i took this one off to recover and
thank my foresight at
six-thirty. i am still awake and
would typically be brewing everyone
else’s coffee right now
(my host informs that his
coffeemaker has started
automatically)
Continue reading Third Monday
How long have i walked in this darkness?
Meeting no man, hearing none but my own voice
Asked to wind my way back home
alone–
but no, not truly i’m told;
My love walks behind, silent as a ghost.
Is this the folly of a cruel god?
Do the dead laugh now in the silence?
They told me that you are behind me,
and i must carry us home.
You are so real to me that i can almost see your face
before me– Continue reading Orpheus Ascending
Some days you’re biking on a flat road,
and with the smallest effort you’re shooting forward.
Other days you’re stuck in 7th gear at the foot of a very tall hill.
Some days you can sit out by the park all day,
Petting and feeding every dog that passes,
and sometimes that’s enough.
Other times you’re at home alone,
and you can’t keep dogs in your apartment.
Some days you walk out the door in shorts–
the sun glows on your face and you can’t help but smile.
Two hours later you can return home shrouded in fog and cold. Continue reading Life/in San Francisco
Where others my age
Keep hard-won degrees,
On my wall is a framed photograph.
My honors are buried under the skin;
My flesh is canvas for a patchwork diploma. Continue reading On The Eve Of Becoming
I think of your face,
Pure and perfect
as a Siennese Virgin.
On that Sunday though
You acted as the other Mary,
Stunned and weeping
as you knelt at his body…
You who are full of compassion
and nurturance,
You for whom concern is instinct,
I have heard your cries
and questions,
Wondered with you
Why and how,
Continue reading Amy’s Prayer
to say that i am missing
you
would be to imply
an absence of some
fundamental part,
a piece of me i cannot
find, and
such is not
the case,
as you are
still
with(in) me.
Continue reading Love Letter
this is the one for
the other boy nursed from her breast,
the boy born in February,
the boy with hair redder than mine.
you who would build houses from refrigerator boxes
with me on the back porch,
holding the knife to cut-cut-cut the doors and windows.
you who once made me a cuckoo-clock from toilet rolls and a diaper carton.
you, the older, the obedient,
the scientist who was spanked for playing with matches. Continue reading Brian’s Poem
I know
I know
You are not my type
To put it mildly
With your
Starched suit and
Neatly knotted tie
Next to which a small tag
Proclaims you as my
Brother
That Bible that Book
Those words in your hand
Proclaim me as your
Enemy your
Cause your
Soul to save Continue reading Worship
eyes glaze at the screen with my image staring back
my upper lip is stiff (and sore from biting)
i feel strange today like
strange is the median point of my conscious state
this strange fruit from a northern tree
grew to ripeness in the shade of magnolias
i am so sick of the beautiful people
sick of knowing the names of the ones in the magazines
being just as alive in the same damn world
but invisible like a ghost
on film
Continue reading Thick Skinned