7/31/09

Something thought of while de Kooning was discussed

and underneath it all
(those lights blaring symphonically
from rooms left unexplored)
he was a firefly blinking out, at a distance

--------------------------------

Millipede
for Laura Brown

as you climb up that leafy stalk
chewy I imagine you
crunchy perhaps against the snapping verdancy
like a mustard spread salty against lettuce
you smeared would be delicious

-----------------------------

Broken Ankles

those demoiselles chopped even further
the cracked angles of curves
dislocated past the point of recognition
perhaps taking it too far
replacing those faulty brush strokes
with those of women more put together

7/29/09

Sea

epic pointillist
salt burnt against the boat's edge
rowing back and forth

-------------------------------

Ephemeral

like the car sirens as the
spinning light/sound cuts through
the humidity, the daze as I cross the street
unconsciously, just barely missing the screech
of wheels fast-paced as they ride up against
the rubber of new shoes, just missing hot flesh/
tired flesh, it too, ephemeral

--------------------

Together

some words, when you say them
like the sound of clogs as you walk up
stylishly architectured wooden floors
that scuffing sound
that choking-as-if-trying-to-escape, persistent sound
to -- like the ball of the foot catching
the sound before the slide and fall-- gether

--------------

7/24/09

Irascible

The radio announcer
when the show's gone wrong
you see him through the glass wall
his head in hands
shouting at all that disturb his
delicate solitude
an image out of a fifties film
picturesque disquietude

---------------------------

Shaniqua is crazy

the frightened rabbit in the coop
hearing the sound of the jackal outdoors
ah, how the fear streams through fur
as if anticipating the external flow of blood
the jackal unknowing, unseeing, unsmelling
loud, boisterous, he laughs at the moon.

---------------

Sparrow

Looking to skip stones riverside,
I told you
"you look like a sparrow"
and what I meant you didn't understand
though not some idea lost in translation
more the words pouring out my mouth a nonsensical flow of emotion
I meant to say:
"there is something in your cheekbones, your nose, your mouth,
something decidedly bird-like
resembling specifically a sparrow"
and there were other things, too
your teeth, which I think are a 7.2
and more...and more...

-------------------------

Poem for Jennie

there is something that catches me
each
and every
time
I look at those waves of color
as they distribute themselves
over the cover of your mind
sometimes it's a swooning feeling
otherwise just a
hello

7/22/09

Marly

passing cumulus

eclipse

your face I missed

I thought

walking through thick crowds

thinning

I saw your face in another's

not yours, truly

but similar enough to

provoke memory

the moon of last night

as the clouds passed over

-------------------------------

Love Poem for My Girlfriend

Like the glue in those special tubes

I'm afraid this glue,

this glue has stuck me to you

the emergency room

they say will help me get it off

but suddenly, I have no desire to.

----------------------------

Fearless

rickety rails-

on a carriage to the distant

the prayer

patron of don't crash-

the arms as they wrap round 

cushions caked with courageousness

racing onwards

rail through the mountains

7/18/09

Portrait of Wendell

what hides behind sunglasses
painted silver?
some kind of
aesthetic mix
a dark brown and olive green
like nature
-forest
I wonder what eyebrows look like
upside down.

-------------

Poem for Diana

Days spent like a mirage
the recurring processes
each action folding into another
no patience to register the minute changes
discrete variables of our time

7/16/09

Halfrican-American

elsewhere

the vague continent of origin

a forgotten relic

this addition of heritage of such import

we race to describe

ethnicity

the cross we bear

"ah, my mother's from...

but she lives in...

though she's really..."

in truth

just words

words to tear down bridges

----------------

The Unknown

It is amazing

what such a small word can hide

the assumption

when broken in half

delving into it

hands covered in silence

the cacophonous noise withdrawn

the safety within

--------------

When People Walk Dogs in the Dog Park, They Look at the Dogs and Think How Differently They Look Never Considering How Different Are the People Walking Them

the stench of the first arrival

he looks around

so does she

the faces

as different from one as the other

the empathetic mix of domesticated and domesticator

the run

the run wild

with color

size/shape

looking up

the difference rests unnoticed

-at least on his end.

7/15/09

Computers

the manual hand
scribe of the millenia
outwritten
by the computing machine
mass of metal wire
plastics to conquer the world
word processor
to miss the clack
the crash
the poor manual hand
as it aches forgotten

----------------

4

Four stops away on the metro
deep evening light
cityscape glides through the window
respiration/expiration
from the outside to the in
Four long minutes to wait
next stop
boarding/descending
the cold pastic turned warm
just barely uncomfortable
three stops away on the metro

--------------------

Teenage daughter doesn't listen to Father

unfortunately
you don't know
everything
as old as you are
as gray as your hair is
the words that pile out of your mouth
hang in the air
with such exceeding weight
mean nothing but trouble
and I
stay out
of
trouble
at all costs
I will leave them hanging

7/14/09

Mermaid

Trapped on the islands of the city
sailing through the confines
as if on a voyage far away
the eruption of the sweetest voice
the boat catches
breaks upon the reefs of my soul
and stuck stranded between here and there
I think I will rest
just an age longer
just a second longer
as the sweetness flows through my ears.

------------------

Blueberry

Dripping off a branch
dropping into an outstretched palm
dripping into an outstretched mouth
dropping through to a stomach hungering
as drips of juice drop down a pale chin

---------------------

333

numerical perfection
as if golden
godly number of numbers
multiples
similar, the same
repetition
as if a mantra
they fall from clouds like the rays in threes

7/09/09

In-between

In-between the silence
the shake of a maraca
heard across a hallway
the space between our apartment and theirs
your pause equalling the length of mine
the celebratory sound punctuating the moment
how to continue, this silence broken
the space between getting asymptotically closer
the inbetween never ending

--------------------

Life

black insects with red tint
i find them crawling, my desk
full of them
breed, class i have no
patience
these minute clues
into the lives of potential
tormentors
blood suckers, disease
spreaders, i take a heavy book
Gray's Anatomy
I smash.


---------------------

Something short about stars

reaching to grab the constellation
the black ink of the sky
i paint myself
child of the night i become
bright lights piercing the air
they glow from my skin
the sky reaches back for me
I melt in its darkness

7/08/09

Twenty-two

twenty two steps
walking down the pier
hot wood splintering
hot feet like
sand burning through dry flesh
blood pumping through veins below
above
twenty two steps
jump cold water

-----------
Pinky

Finger
screws in the bones
tightened, cracking with
anticipation
air bubbles between
joints, they
move swinging around & pivotal
axis of calcified
molecules turned the color
red, well no, its more like the color
pink
-----------

About Today

Last of the gray day was yesterday
melting into a new groove
speaking a new sound
grasping at old straws
hands tied firmly to here an now

--------------

Poems 7/7/09

Sublime

The toes curved over the edge of a sandle
the perfect arch of skin and bone
muscle wrapped, tendon tucked
skin on skin tanned/processed
the scent: musk and old foreign cheese
perhaps prized, but oh, sublime

---------------

Rain

The drops
like the tracks of the train
going over them
combing them through my hair
the slow gasps of an instant between
the sound and the sensation
inescabable they are silent

--------------

Strand

When it's winter and the beach is snow covered
ice-laced
I tiptoe in moccasins to feel the color
seeping like an infectious disease over the palms
of my feet.
The magnificent color of cloud covering compared with blue-black water.
A bruise next to the skin of the land.
Choke me like the reeds are choked by chill.