1438 ½
He said,
“Do whatever you want,”
with a noose on the neck.
I lift my glasses
when I scratch my eye. So
you know I’m a serious writer
full of serious things. Like,
“Analog synths and
your dress on the floor
ain’t no use
moving
when the sun finishes
painting the door
so I sit - “
And in the most
important literary circle
at my therapist’s office,
I pronounce myself
healed and douse myself in
love, olive oil, and cigarettes
half smoked and reeking.
-
Well,
there wasn’t no real point
to man anyway
and I roll the pastor’s words
in newspaper. You come to
find me when I can’t come
and ask to be held
after I build a birdhouse
tinder box
a trick for the neighbor boy’s
eyes. So
you know I’m the real deal.
-
It’s easy to be romantic
when all your neighbors
are gone and the kettle
was stolen by some
junkie two years ago.
We all want to know
why
you’re so proud of your
basement lovin’
and your freeze dried
meals
like you’re the second coming.
But have you seen me write
love poems? The Austin Chronicle
gave me free testing. So
you know I’m the real deal, like
“I lose my mind
when you leave the room,”
like,
“I rubbed us in coffee grounds
wolf hair and grandma’s teeth
just to prove I was true
truly accustomed to
the vast solitude
swimming
smiling with pink dimples
right below us.”
-
I give my little girl
her first dress on her
first day and weep
at the CVS
with her momma’s razors
and a pack of secret smokes.
I’m packing it in
wondering worrying
and apologizing for our
shared child.
-
You’ve got the cutest smile
and the cutest laugh
it makes a ladybug
hide its eyes -
I needed you
but I was a childlike tune
a hand me down
and a spinning top
dull by your fingertips. So
you know I’m serious
I’ll tell you
what Jimmy the Crow told me
last Tuesday
right before the light of day
created and painted
new continents on his marked
face.
“My lady had me in stitches
stitches I tell you
she had me bent over
laughing
with one hand through my hair
and the other just beneath
my chin….
