A lifelong conversation winds
around the trunks
of bare trees. She’s left
to support his silence
so he won’t fall
down the rabbit hole. The one
she can’t peer into for fear
she might like
what she sees. Might not ask
for help again.
Eleven Cubed
Whoever erased
all thoughts of him
from my head while I
slept last night
will become the new
mystery I expand
into an obsession
before snow falls
on another civil
twilight. Could be spitting
out toothpicks
for all I care.
Ordinary High Water Mark
This pink
sky before
twilight touches
a rim no one
sees. To awaken
to 11.11.11
tomorrow will be
her version
of so many
lines fluctuating
against one another.
Pricked by Blue Flowers
Wears out
a pen is
a good sign
was something
she wrote
in a journal
30 years ago
to dig herself
out is still
a message
she can use
to get
your attention
off those dreams
onto hers.
You Said You Had Souls for Sale
I’ll take two—one
for tonight’s winding
down those final shafts
of light. One because
the first could crack
open like a skull
against a ladder. Could be stolen
in that half
hour before sunrise. Could just wear
out. An autumn blizzard
could barricade access. Or
it could be
an addiction
to that fearless insanity to look
a stranger in the eye. Do you make
home deliveries?
New Background
No famous mobile
cutouts on a lawn
will work. A classic dance
piece from 1958
won’t do. None of those
instantly recognizable faces
disturbing the natural
world. Not a mountain—
or cave for gangster ghosts.
The names I know
come from the wrong
household. Your voice
seeps through a vent
beneath the porch.
Meet me there.
aka AA
Turn the lights way down
low—let’s tell ghost stories to the street
lamps outside. I’ve been looking
at those shadows
on your face all my life. It’s time
we should meet.
Speech Therapy
Home is in the pronunciation.
In this silence,
I belong nowhere—everywhere
could be my first word.
Viscose
Footbridges are her chalkboard.
She erases the night
with her tongue. No spitting
allowed. If she could write
like you used to
speak, she’d drop
all R’s
(reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic)
to make room for one long
queue that snakes
along those unmarred banks.
But she just can’t do it.
Any Day Now
Old fillings fall out—old
infatuations rise
up—old habits move
on—old stories settle
in—I’m not so old I can’t tuck
myself into the next
roll over.
