untitled (20220607)

better a heart
made of glass
reducible to sand

than this regenerative
muscle that forms
and is torn apart
and forms again
waiting for the next
hand in the chest

trickster whispering
the decision is the right one
what is right is never easy
and wanting more than
anything
than to feel nothing

questioning
every decision that led to here
beginning with the first tears

there is no balm in gilead
there is no gilead

convenience store (20220430)

the words are a different lexicon
or maybe a foreign language
an alien tongue
licking alien lips and rolling
over whatever passes for teeth
on alpha centauri

the words, oh the words,
they squirm like flagella in
an electric petri dish
refusing to stay still
refusing boundaries and definition

if a dictionary could only speak
and read my mind
and tell me what i'm thinking

another tree conversation (20220428)

i want to tell the tree
that in a couple of days
men will come and cut them down

this is not for anything the tree has done
but as a precaution
though they are too far to endanger the house

they are girdled and too close to siblings
too likely to take one of them down
when next the wind changes direction

i want to ask their permission
but how can those words be said sincerely
when the saws will run with or without it

instead i apologize
and promise to use every part
to reclaim the sunshine he has stored

something to do with your hands (20220424)

the wood
is not a metaphor for anything
turn it over and check to see
is it straight knotted twisted cupped

the wood is not a metaphor
for anything
it's a building material

staple a red flag
to the longer boards
that poke out of the truck bed
over the tail gate
like a dog peeking
over the edge
at a stop light

the flag is not a metaphor
but is is lost at some point
during the short drive home

/consider going back to find it
since it's plastic
and probably crap for the environment
but swallow the guilt instead/

the wood will be used to build
a bench

the bench is a metaphor
or a simile
or a bench