Category: Poems

Poem 20150123

crow

we three are in a room
crowded with old furniture, books, cushions and
the warm glow of firelight
like something out of a hoarder’s edwardian sitting room

you’re talking about our upcoming trip
the three of us are taking a ship
and you’re so beautiful talking about
the man you’re going to meet there

when you cross the room
i can see the soft red shimmer
of your camisole glitter
under the sheer fabric of your shirt

i try to hold you still
but you dance out of my arms
so in love that you are transported
out of this place and out of this time

I am not on the ship when it departs
i watch it pull out of the harbor
and my phone goes off when you realize
i am not there

“you can take another ship,” you say
“there’s a faster one leaving and
you can actually beat us there”
i do what you ask

the ship is old, crowded, and faster than the pleasure barge
we three had planned on sharing
but i have heard whispers about a trail of broken hulls
on the ocean floor, litter for the mermaids to pick over

i arrive still wet with spray from standing on the deck
surprised that your ship has magically arrived early
and the two of you have already disembarked
headed in opposite directions to your respective loves

i know where and when you are meeting him since
you speak of nothing else
and i perform magic of my own, thinking to get there first
i wander like a ghost but find that you are already in his arms

and i wonder about my need to follow you to this shore
to witness this with my own eyes
and wished that I had thrown myself into the fire in that study
or overboard the ship into the cold embrace of a mermaid

Poem 20150122

crow

leave a message
after the beep
or
you could leave a massage
but that’s more
intimate
and probably involved
and might require
someone
to cross state lines
so that i could receive
the laying on
of hands

beep

Poem 20150121

crow

we sit together
across from each other
the philosophy paper
between us
the book
between us
and we work through
the platonic dialogue
with all those ideas
that seem deep
and funny
and you take notes
and you laugh
and you smile
and you get up to get me
a glass of water
and I watch your hips roll
as you walk into the kitchen
and I think
how small you are
small enough to be picked up
to be carried through your house
though
your parents
in the other room
might not appreciate that

you return with my water
smiling
and we get back to work
then we slip into talk about
english class
and the girl who has literary friends
who was trying to one-up
the teacher
and you slide my glass over
between us
and you arrange your notes
between us
and this is as close as we
get

Poem 20150120

crow

you grind
you hit the button and repeat the past
you grind
you grind
you hit the button and repeat the past
but the past was different then
than what the past is now
you repeat the past but it is not the same past
and you grind
and you repeat
the lights light
the buttons gets pressed
the cycle starts over again
and again
and again
and you hit
you hit the
the button is hit

Poem 20150118

crow

there was no angry buzzing
no warning that some line
had been crossed
nothing to indicate
a perimeter had been violated
yet every word
flew like a wasp
refusing to die after
delivering its venom
returning again
and
again

Poem 20150115

crow

among the smooth grass
above the markers
three graces smile
holding hands
each looking in a different
direction

only one has faced death before
and it is her constant companion
a shadow that no amount of light
can banish nor darkness obscure
the other girls will never know
the same way
the touch of his cold still hand
in their own small, warm, ever-moving hands

but the soldiers
who wait beneath their little feet
who wait beneath the warm loam
who wait silently at attention forever
have shared this with her
before their transmutations
and now as she smiles
on this sunny day