october 2016 haD me a' waxin' for some reasoN.
so, here they are:
"Poems"
MADRID
I like the gray shirts
The Americans
The ones who close their eyes
And walk and talk and smoke and bleat.
I like the gray streets
Where I follow them all the way, winding
To a place in-between
And it hits while it sits
That I’m not a part of that cotton-white gang.
I like the gray dreams now
They hide here with me
I sleep to lose them
While the ladies from Hades provide me with maybes
I end the day with their customary kisses,
Candy-red.
AT THE ELBOW
I saw that picture of you and him,
Faking it,
Clutching his elbow as if you cared anymore
Than it says on the back:
“Saint Andrews by-the-Sea, 2012.”
He’s all bread and butter in that frame,
Mailing in the smile, and
Holding up that child, and
Wondering all the while
What the mistress is up to at present.
THINK BACK
Remember the days when we had chocolate sodas?
I don’t
But I wish I could be there
Be at the fountain then, with friends
Ordering up a pop or two for my girl.
Remember the days when we had segregation?
I don’t
But I wish I could be there
Be getting slapped in the asshole with reality
A reality that should be long behind me and mine.
Don’t you wish you could be there too?
No, I don’t think you do
But I wish you could be.
RIPE
It makes sense to me that avocados are green
Fickle and young
They don’t know when they want you to have them.
So you shyly watch them decide
Decide when they aren’t to be new anymore
But if you miss the transformation
The splendid, soft chrysalis
You’ll be eating bullshit instead.
But I keep buying them
And they get more expensive
Every time.
NO MORE BEATS
The orchestra comes in
A creamy wall of strings
But we’re not here,
Not wrapped in the soundscape.
The coughing man next to us brings to mind the sickness
And that’s the new sound
The new music
The echo.
It doesn’t matter what song you sing
It doesn’t matter which Al Green album you put on
Nothing stays on repeat for long
Nothing but shuffle for long,
Really.
From this distance
Such applause sounds like rain
Because we’re just here for the final show.
THE NIGHT WE ALL HAD WINE AND CAKE
Didn’t know it
Until tonight, I guess
But I like it when you’re drunk
(huh).
The red in your face is the ease of a smile
And how can I fight that ready laugh?
It’s mostly sweet breath — warm from here
And how did you get so tall in this crowded room?
What can I do to climb?
Don’t spoon that cake too fast — I just want to watch you.
And for God’s sake, stop that dress,
From moving around like that
I’m not treading well in the black of its waves…
Didn’t know
Until tonight, I guess
That drowning was an option.
YOUR NANA
Made from storybook honeycombs,
She spreads the frosting
Across those warmed holiday cakes,
Knifing that butter for KiKi with love.
Her arms are thick,
Carrying-muscles beneath,
She could stop a truck with the right coupon.
And yet, she’s soft —
A walking mattress for sleepy kits and cubs.
Her kitchen walls are thick with garlicky grease,
And ya’ll have the urge to lick ‘em.
Seeing an eternal protector,
Clad in a pastel leisure robe,
Passing things down, meaning she has to leave
What can you do… to protect her too?
MY NONNA
Risen from the grave
You stir the sauce
With flecks of pepper and sinking cheese
You stir that sauce, alright.
No shoulders to speak of,
Nose is a slicer
A draft could shatter you.
And yet, you buzz —
A locust gripping an over-sized spoon.
Your pantry is a labyrinth,
For your minotaur of a mouth.
We see a Halloween nightmare
Wrapped in an Easter bonnet
Which holiday meal will it take
For you to finally give up and go?
THE WORD OF
God has taught me how to hate,
That man who walks into a church
Aimlessly takes aim
And fires.
But He protects us.
I have learned to sympathize,
With those hookers on Cobbler Street
Acid kisses for 10
A fuck for 50.
But He provides for us.
I have died inside because they have,
Tissue turning against itself
A lump, a lesion,
A black hole festering in our mothers and lovers that simply cannot be removed from the equation.
But we grow with Him.
I’ll win the lottery on doomsday,
I’m sure,
Which He has taught me to believe.