I’m the one he made first. Still leaning
against an unpainted wall and unstrung
in his mind. Far
from perfect, my curves are a first try. But
he finished me
well. And I’m a hit
at campfires deep
in eastern New York forests.
Up Here
A sculpture outside
another restaurant
that didn’t make it
celebrates a robust
dance in bronze. Limbs
will support a partner’s need
to cry beneath clouds.
Will they break
now or tonight
when reminiscing has begun?
Whose weather will make
the better spin? Some cities
may tie.
Natural Climbers
Straw was a factor
in his fall. No one drowned
in the river
that day. No more bridges
collapsed
that year. Hay is for
the rest of the time
he considers descent.
Wheel
“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”
― Saint Francis of Assisi
She wants to be
the one who creates
art without using
her hands—wants to be
all heart. When she gets
what she wants, it’s time
to recalibrate
the colors—blue for logic,
green for emotion, yellow
for rigor, red
for everything else.
Polaroid
How many times
will he pose
for photographs before the word
simplicity
settles in? Never is a long time
to wait
for hot winds
to subside, for another image
to self-develop.
Hunger Bay
A food strike
won’t bring back
the words he lost
in mystery’s high
tide. Non-verbal
communication is
an art she hopes
to learn before nothing
washes ashore.
The Summer after Seventh Grade on Glengary Road
I remember twins
before the mall came tumbling down
(where no library would nest
in its debris). They swam
in a pool
attached to a house
my father bought
before they tore down
the family. It was broken
by the time those boys jumped
off the diving board
into lukewarm June
water. And the poodle
had already eaten the kits
nesting in a rabbit
burrow by the wooden fence.
Friday the 13th
Not tripping
under ladders, the girl
wears lips
on a t-shirt, men
block the entrance
to anywhere
she might want
to pass through
to escape hidden
meanings—but
there were none.
Blind Pouch
An old air
stream on a newly paved
driveway, a red pickup
like the one I imagined
I would own
one day. Still unlicensed
and not ready
to relinquish
sidewalks, I hug
the side of the road
and think
of the mystery
left in this escape.
Bath
A tree house built
upon itself
without a trunk
to hug. Painted white,
it becomes a crow’s
nest for spying
those moving
things in the grass. Or,
just blades
someone might make
music with—someone
who no longer lives
in the brick house
on that acre
of land missing a tree.
