5/26/13

blue-black street corner
missed buses make long evenings
on a storefront stoop
press my head to your shoulder
I close my eyes between cars

5/25/13

the strange riverside
strewn with pumice, black coal shards
nervous flight of swifts
clouds of purple-blooming vetch
draw us to the muddy bank

5/24/13

sand diplomacy
the ground shifts below your boots
compacts and expands
the weight of your saber, hung
like a corpse in a scabbard

5/23/13

you pour your guts out
shield the strings with metaphors
or bark it out straight
reveal it tenderly or
shake it in your knotted fist

5/22/13

old men sip o'douls
and the players strum dixie,
keen craggy, veined hands
he nods and mouths the words, swung
by his wife's throaty burlesque

5/21/13

a fledgeling plummets
and shocked, bounces, beak agape
under the rosebush
tongue-thrust and squeaking, she runs
between my feet and takes wing

5/20/13

the sun retreats and
we're left in this dark bedroom
sweat, sotto voices
blind, i feel for your sweet face
hear my heart beat in my bones

5/19/13

a day to move dirt
drag life into the corners
of your slim domain
wash the grime from your skin, drink
deep and observe your hands' work

5/18/13

I was in a cave
and then not. My eyes burned with
the overcast sky.
Up the hill, the sound of birds,
spittlebug nests in the weeds.

5/17/13

eight at the table
and we laugh too loud, order
too many refills
I've shared beers with these scoundrels
since we cut our teeth, laughing

5/16/13

the thick midweek slog
caught half-way, foot half-lifted
to step, lungs half-full
chalky pill half-swallowed, count
minutes till the brain floats, numb

5/15/13

branches weave themselves
thick ribbon in the chainlink
knotting the steel grid
I run a hacksaw through them
untangle the greenish cords

5/14/13

with gloved hands I grab
sinewy stems and flat leaves
two-toned as poison
I tear the shoots down, expose
the knotted trunk, gnarled old heart

5/13/13

paean to labor
careful chopping, the warm stove
pile of clean dishrags
fold it, tuck it in a drawer
make order in your young home

5/12/13

the family album
lines of children, long-gone cat
in grandmother's arms
swaddled faces of babies
winking crows-feet beside me

5/11/13

in the grocery store
the same yankee faces but
now they are my age;
no one sees the grass spider
lost and scrambling in the aisles

5/10/13

my mother and I
hang our hats to a shared tune
in the weekday sun:
long walks along the creekbeds
and a stiff afternoon drink

5/9/13

golden sunset hours
light slanting on the hillside
the rosy red bricks
we stand in a vacant lot
listen for peeping fledglings

5/8/13

bell-shaped flowers bloom
in the space between old bricks
purfume and pebbles
heavy heads droop on the bus
sore for sleep, tired blossoms

5/7/13

caverns of water
dragon's gold and diamonds, lost
amid the boulders
I spin stories in the air
above sweet sleeping faces

5/6/13

thin mist afternoon
my hollow head whistles clean
in the cold spring breeze
pigeons sip from a puddle
touch beaks in bashful circles

5/5/13

his hand on her thigh
stop and go hours, trapped
ohio highway
plates of diner spaghetti
cool under their hooked glances

5/4/13

muddied wreath of roses
share smokes on a tar rooftop
the flat wet skyline
inside folks kiss and laugh loud
the whiskey so cold and sweet

5/3/13

the emerald tunnel
stained glass streets, wisteria
sighing on the vine
these empty sidewalks belie
an acre of green mondays

5/2/13

the streets are hopping
sidewalk promenade, gossip
by the corner store
bags of ice and cigarettes
make their way homeward

5/1/13

crumbling hillside bricks
old trees anchored to shale plates
cowpaths and violets
the warm air mingles the scent
of new growth and swift decay

4/30/13

feel the dark rising
shifting seapools of bile
malevolent tide
this drowned cur will drag to shore
her scissor teeth spread, rictus