how to make guacamole (20161224)

crow13 Comments

mash the avocado with a fork
leave some chunks
add lemon juice, salt, garlic
chili to your tolerance

slice an onion in half
while it still lives
in its skin

press your thumb
into a layer below
the dried outer paper

feel the layers separate
your thumb a medium
a wedge dividing
the outside from the inside
you don’t have to remove the skin
yet
just feel that moment
caught between together
and apart

every word
a wedge finding its way
between my layers
each word a manicured thumb
breaking me apart
but leaving me intact

mince well
serve with homemade
chips

past past present (20161222)

crow6 Comments

these ghosts hover
like the shimmer
of christmas booze
over a dickensian pudding

[so many dead
–the poet said]

no one waited until spring
no thaw
and frost flowers
blossomed from gravesite earth

poinsettia and holly berry
heart color bright for the season
pleasing to view
poison to taste
divided by a pair of aces and nines
yet in my dreams
always together
striving

carols (20161220)

crow8 Comments

christmas carols play on the radio
a classical station
so i don’t get to
hear any bing, frank, mel, or elvis

one wall separates my office
from the garage
allowing me to hear
the washing machine draining
the dryer spinning
tossing clothes on the eco-cycle

i lower my head
to the desk
and strain to hear
domestic music
but it’s all horns
and violins
and the dog obsessively
cleaning his paw

cold air (201612170)

crow10 Comments

the air transforms my words
into cold clouds
cold words
fearful ones
laughter as well

i inhale
my teeth complain
–maybe the new crown
but maybe maybe maybe
this winter air
has pack us in ice
a garage freezer
keeping us fresh til spring

if my words turned into snowflakes
i would catch them in my palm
and let them melt
if your words turned into snowflakes
i would catch them on my tongue
and swallow them

lost in the dark (20161215)

crow10 Comments

you circle back
in this rain
retrace your steps to search for
that piece of yourself
you dropped

on the sidewalk?
in the gutter?

that thing you dropped
it is smaller than a snowflake
fragile as bones
woven of glass strands

and now
you say
i must go with you
to help you find it

i will bring a light
and hope my failing eyes
offer some assistance