Category: Poems

Poem 20160220

crow4 Comments

when i was a kid i could buy
at the magic shop
or sometimes the drug store
magic smoke
dab between my thumb and forefinger
press together and spread apart
long strands would magically form
filaments
shiny waving gossamer
a gauzy arc between fingertips
a good trick
if you had dexterity enough
you made smoke appear from your hands

i found later
when i got into building models
that airplane glue
which smelled so good
and left me light-headed
did the same thing

the human soul stretches out
between us too
incredibly thin and almost
invisible but not quite
strongest when we are pressed together
thinner but still strong
still connecting
when we are apart

Poem 20160217

crow8 Comments

a piece of me, a fractured piece of me
and a piece of you, just as jagged

they try to fit to together
–teeth of mismatched gears–

where motion should be smooth
instead the sound of snapping glass bones
screams of angels with cinder wings
bits and pieces falling wetly to the floor

the machinery stops so we mop up the blood
and try again

each time there is less and less of me left
each time there is less and less of you left

this is why we break

unevenly matched where there should be symmetry
but when the gears meet at last–we transcend

Poem 20160216

crow

these are the ways we fall asleep–
intertwined
next to each other
face to face
hand in hand
side by side
back to back
under a blanket
under the sky
under a tree
under the stars
under a curse
in a car after lunch
in a car during a drive in movie
in a bed
in a cot
during a conversation
during a tv show
behind the woman paying by check at target
behind the wheel of a car

this is the way we wake up–
sudden and alone