the scratch in the record (20170408)

the phone rings
and my words
are pressed down
stoppered between
gut and tongue

you say hello
and that you want to tell me
that you couldn’t remember
if i had received
the card

i assure you i have
and we hang up

the phone rings
and my heart
is pressed down
wedged between
sharpened bones

you say hello
and that you want to tell me
that you couldn’t remember
if i had received
the card

i assure you i have
and we hang up

the phone rings
and my throat
clamps closed
crushed under
a drunk’s forearm

you say hello
and apologize
since you know you’ve called
(didn’t i)
and that you want to tell me
that you couldn’t remember
if i had received
the card

i assure you i have
(please don’t apologize)
and we hang up

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 8

Check out these sites:

gray eye (20170407)

pity the trio
of old women
with a single eye
and single tooth
among them

though they
know much that
is hidden
when the eye
rolled behind the sofa
and they could not
find the can opener
they resorted to blind
cannibalism

politely taking turns
chewing
each other
with that one tooth

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 7

Check out these sites:

six views of silence (20170406)

the air doesn’t stir
or ring

you look my way
and pretend to smile
but not even a whisper
passes your lips

like dropping a pin
in a vacuum
no tinkling chime

oppressive and heavy
being mummified
wrapped in heavy wet bandages
soaked in eucalyptus
hard to breathe and move
but harder still to
want to move

your laughter is a ghost
hollow and absent and see through
and everywhere at once
and all in my head

horses spin
a sickly pantomime
the calliope
rests in ruins
scraps of metal tubes
black and white keys
broken wooden legs
discarded brass ring

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 6

Check out these sites:

the meek (20170405)

black blur on red bricks
this spring day
heats up like summer
and you and your kin
warm yourselves
and scatter yourselves

i have seen more
of your brethren
in one year of heat
than in a lifetime of
cooler years
and i wonder
if this a new age
of dinosaurs

these ones will be tiny
and won’t fly
and won’t have feathers
they will have scales
and eat insects
and inherit the earth
and i hope
they are kinder to the bees

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 5

Check out these sites:

meditation (20170404)

close your eyes
open the third
sulphur yellow swirl of sparks
like a limoncello candy
a galaxy dissolving in the cosmic mouth

we are all suckers
under the tongue
of a laughing buddha

you better hope

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!

Check out these sites:

an elegy to desire (20170403)

here lies lust
whose blood has
turned to rust
decaying bones
a powdered dust

remember the fire
in his veins
bore you higher
than any snow-capped
mountain spire

what an art
was seduction
the saddest part–
he had no
beating heart

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 3

Check out these sites:

ornament (20170402)

a hollow christmas ornament
shattered against the fireplace bricks
such a shiny mirrored interior

what lives in there
that needs to see itself
wherever it looks
distorted in a not-so-fun house

the outside painted red
and i think
that’s the opposite
of what

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!

Check out these sites:

miniature waterfall and what it said (20170401)

sun bounces white
a horizontal bar
across the falling water
no cascade no foam
no churning among the pebbles
yet the water speaks for the light

understand how voices once
were heard proceeding forth
from burning bushes which
did not become ash

but don’t pretend
to understand
the voices

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!

Check out these sites:

Day One – It Begins! — NaPoWriMo

Welcome to Day One of NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo! As in past years, we’ll feature a participant each day and supply an optional prompt. We’ve also traditionally supplied an “extra” – a link to a journal accepting submissions, information on a poet writing other than in English, etc. This year, we’ll be rounding out the daily posts with…

via Day One – It Begins! — NaPoWriMo