2/28/13

snow turns to cold rain
the alley is full of trash
and tired cooks smoking
under a ripped umbrella
my head, shorn like joan of arc

2/27/13

taking the night bus
I peer out the dark window
wet streets, the walk home
three beers slosh in my belly
on the yellow-lit sidewalk

2/26/13

a cairn of stones, heaped
rough-hewn boulders, flattened rounds
pond bottom pebbles
each day remove a handful
watch the lean body vanish

2/25/13

saucer-eyed pea brain
dustrag moppet meowing high
and thin for supper
she drops, purring, from my arms
to sulk pretty on the stairs

2/24/13

strong unsweet coffee
records spinning in the haze
nag champ and sunshine
beyond the slatted blinds cars
drive up and down the mountain

2/23/13

your sleepy lion face
squints at my staircase foot falls,
jewelry box rummage
you lay your head back and smile
man of my house, my heart's pride

2/22/13

cap a week hard won
bring a dark pint to your mouth
by the high river
parse the the grain and malt between
cheek and tooth, the cup and lip

2/21/13

we traffic in words
breathe them into seashell ears
cocked in reception
the air is swarmed with thoughts: pull
them down, love, and give them names

2/20/13

sweet cord of my days
frayed from mending these pale weeks
pulls taut, tight and snaps
a hawk tumbles from the sky
and screams, tangled in a bush

2/19/13

i am a glass pane
a jar of water, a gust
blamed on a meek ghost
doors close before me, open
for nothing but swirling snow

2/18/13

slip slip stitch, knit one
yarn over with stiff fingers
turn the work, make one
the needles click whispers in
strange language of creation

2/17/13

we found a staircase
winding from a wet gutter
to a high hilltop
we paused at the top, breathless
eyes tracing the grid of streets

2/16/13

hamster in a nest
of tea cups and kleenexes
pillows and sour soup
i watch night fall, bleary-eyed, 
from the mouth of my tunnel

2/15/13

I lean my head back
as we skirt down Liberty
in the lush black night
eyes closed I know every lurch
and rise of the orbit home

2/14/13

buckets of roses
kitten heels, commuters clutch
cellophane bouquets
the gulf tower glows red and
the whole city is in love

2/13/13

on the wet-black roads
snow gleams like a candle flame
but when i look up
millions of flakes fill the sky,
a universe of dark stars

2/12/13

within the cavern
of thick sleep the mind turns
to observe itself:
forms open like bird's plumage
hanging from a flowered branch

2/11/13

trees are full of ghosts
plastic bags choke the branches
shredded by the wind
a twisting gust chills my bones
and rattles the strange harvest

2/10/13

winter walls feel close
I look out every window
and walk between rooms
in the deep month of winter
the clouds hang, claustrophobic

2/9/13

patchwork afternoon
flowers, trash-picked living rooms
bold women grinning
I remember being broke
twenty-four and transcendent

2/8/13

a vision of mouths
wood and charcoal, a long beard
and drawing blackness
I knot thread round my finger
and squint, try to remember

2/7/13

hunched over the desk
red wine and the radio
leaking small voices
razor between my fingers
scraps of paper at my feet

2/6/13

snowfall tracks cat paws
reveals her nightly sojourn:
a rest on the stoop
the disruption of smooth snow
where she slipped under the fence

2/5/13

watch the breath taken
slow rise of shoulder, exhale
like a soft word sighed
in scattered hillside homes lungs
pull in and out, mark the night

2/4/13

my boots crunch salt and
silty streetwater as I
eyeball the masses:
one hundred strangers walk by
ciphers smoking cigarettes

2/3/13

a step and a gasp
my leg locks in the cold air
with a deep dull pain
I brace on the chain-link fence
and coax the joint to motion

2/2/13

a flash of turquoise
reveals two peacocks, scratching
for grain in a drift.
snow gathers on their limp trains,
white lace shrouding bronze-green eyes

2/1/13

on frigid pavement
sputum puddles freeze into
grey slicks of pond ice;
in a drafty gallery
we drink wine amid nail holes

1/31/13

squalls blow sheets of snow
opaque as lambs' wool, cold as
a mid-winter birth
we gather at the table
warm our hands with a shared meal