8/30/13

powder of decay
frosts the web of leaves, yellow
stems thinned to straws
piled lumps of unripe melons
stuck knots in a green shoelace

8/29/13

god bless a cold beer
the way stories tangle tight
head to tail to head
the dog's perked ears, velvet scraps
between my nervous fingers

8/28/13

lace the sinew to

my curved calves, narrow boy hips

trimmed down to meat

the blood bolts, singing through

newly forged paths of my body

8/27/13

crossing dark water

the gentle humped backbone

of the unspooling bridge

summer evening cleft by

the white skin of concrete

8/26/13

basil bolted, ruined

by flowering flotillas

the cloud-like sway

a ragged leaf mashed to paste

warns an acrid bite, no good

8/25/13

the skinless fruit, moist

and sweating in my cupped palm

parting into fat halves

the snarling tooth of the knife

the nicked web of my curled thumb

8/24/13

the glare and the blight

heat-shimmer and bleached-out rock

cupping warm bathwater

pink lungs rattle with pain

my stomach leans uneasily

8/23/13

racing down the hill

a friend’s bike, his reckless grin

snapped back, stunned moment

flying, tethered by a chain

caught around his tender neck

8/22/13

a splash of water
stacks of wet dishes, puddled
in the steel sink
outside a brace of lightning
and a steady night rain

8/21/13

four thousand faces
unlined, warmed by youthful joy
shouting at the sun;
behind a rock, small omens
paper-thin skull, fanned feathers

8/20/13

I am downtown, mired
between suits and cigarettes
dazzled by the noise
I clutch my lifeline, swallow
down pain and vomit, cyclic

8/19/13

the same old zero
shuffling, fists balled in pockets
with a bad-luck eye
Sam said 'fail again, fail better'
I say he's got my number

8/18/13

heaps of velvet, felled
on the border of roadside
amid the tall weeds
I think of doll-sized fur coats
sleeping minks, missing kittens

8/17/13

my blood's exhaustion
the trembling muscles, shaking
with adrenaline
I breathe and close my eyes, sense
the body's swift work of repair

8/16/13

astroturf, green nap
rolling a florescent ball
through peeled-paint windmills
street lamp spotlights, flat shadows
pooling in the eighteenth hole

8/15/13

the half-lit theater
rows of folding chairs, unhinged
and thick with listeners
in the back a cooler weeps
ice melting between glass bottles

8/14/13

cold breezes punch through
august's false sun, promising
pinprick autumn nights
front stoop tomatoes waver
between ripe fruit, withered leaves

8/13/13

full of vinegar
salted wounds, back-bitten bile
sneers and smashed windows
cross as a tired child
I call quits and march to bed

8/12/13

the hum of the fan
and evening cicadas.
we sleep like children
splayed on the old quilt; the days
are growing shorter. fall waits.

8/11/13

warm woozy sunshine
shoe soles melting, the brick heat
of the sidewalk home
my belly is full of gin
I just want to sit and smile

8/10/13

the curved river bank
lays bare the morning vista
thrust of glass buildings
we duck under bridges, feet
push us west then turn homeward

8/9/13

fat wheeled suitcases
click seconds on the tile floor
wobble down hallways
one pale face then another
disembark, unfold smiles

8/8/13

small disappointments
sit like sparrows on your arms,
petty indulgence:
the dissolution of plans
lost hours, the meal unsavored

8/7/13

the evening gridlock
cars pile into crosswalks
animal insistence
the sky spits wind, sallow tones
the rapid slew of storm clouds

8/6/13

rowhouses, uneven
tightly packed as front teeth
black before the dawn
here and there a single light
one heart beats to wakefulness

8/5/13

ripped web of bedsheets
my feet knotted together
sweat glued to my spine
I pinch my eyes shut, churn sleep
in the hum of a box fan

8/4/13

every window open
to the cool blue evening
perch at the table
a glowing beacon, still life
with pen and lowball glass

8/3/13

ratty tea towels
a dozen masons boiled
glass parched by the heat
steam and sugar, afternoon
alchemy, hot pepper jam

8/2/13

creekwater and corn
overripe fruit, smashed puce bruise
wet coin-metal tang
bouquet of cheap beer, spare
yellow trace to be forgotten

8/1/13

anonymity
a slim promise on a street
thick with harried people
two eyes can turn off course, find
home in a stray brave glance

7/31/13

pink dusk, empty streets
new cicadas grind a chant
husky summer song
circle like druids, arms raised
bounty and birth our blessings

7/30/13

a piebald nightmare
grease-soaked feathers lashed to bones
picking gutter crumbs
bedraggled, limp and totter
on warped and tumorous feet

7/29/13

sweep the sand away
stoke a pyre to scorch
a thousand years of strife
cherish this new void, hold it
where your heart once weakly hummed

7/28/13

summer of make-do
lean pockets and no real plans
to fill the long day
scrounge twenty, cheap beer to cap
event-less afternoon daze