Insult #2

My disbelief
at their interest
is only made more incredulous
by the subject:
you.

Curled

At the window,

I saw two leaves dancing
on the branch,
so close to each other
that they curled
along the other's veins.

Insult #3

You have so many issues,

you can't even commit
to what shirt to wear today.

Chalice

Knowing that there were no wild bears

or killers out in the
brush to the left
or the
trees to the right
and watching
the gravel-dirt crossway under my feet,
I still borrowed
the small light of the phone
reflected on the mile markers.

Peppers

The leaves collecting

in the yard
protect the delicate
spicy peppers
you brought back with you.

Did you pay
the taxes
when the man asked
what you bought in Peru
or did you play
the tourist
and avoid the fine?

Deck of the Elizabeth

Where the grayed splintering wood

met water
grew tendrils of things.

Weeds and plants and paper
which were covered in silt
from the recent flood.

Trailing your foot over the edge,
missing the brackish waste
more from luck than planning,
you spoke of the beauty
that you saw everywhere.

Cracked Glass

From the outside,

watching the crack form in the fishbowl
and the water slowly leak out
is as strenuous
as being the force
that caused the first chip.

When the fish began to push at the sides
the only thing to do
is shore up the levy around it
and hope for the water to rush
around and not over
the hands holding the him

Traffic

The husk was black

and the glass shattered onto the street,
mingling with the water
which killed the flames
and turned it
a mottled white-black.

Bernstein-Meyer Experimental Poem #31

When you are done with her
and wonder where the pieces of yourself
you lost are
I will know
because I have collected them
like the discarded clothing
you let fall to the ground
on the way to her bed.

Braddock Road

The cars passed
not swerving or slowing

to let you by
and when the sudden gust of
wind from a speeding Honda
hit you
you careened across
the median
before landing on a Mercedes.
Unscathed you continued
across the lanes of traffic
before collapsing on the lawn
in front of the school,
breaking with the prick of grass.

That Fell

The leaf that fell
hit each branch on its way
then landing on your hair,
you shook it to the ground
where it lay waiting
to be picked up by the air.

While the leaf...

While the leaf
caught between the windshield and the wiper
collected the chilly rain of 2 am

we talked

and when the first cold drop
slid over the edge of its makeshift cup

I stopped crying
and let you go

slept for the coming work day.

Classification

bipinnate
plamately lobed
unlobed with teeth
fascicles

In the style of Niedecker

Cherry blossom bunch
    at the window fades
                (pink then white)
    in the sun

I was tan
    for you
        once.

Insult #1

The games
I play with him,
I would gladly play with you,
but you lack the medium
through which I work:

words.

Cold Snap

The cold snap hit hard
and the tomato plant withered
to brown in a week.

Without its viney presence,
the small yard looked cramped and lonely
on the street of flowers and grass,
without red fruit
the house learned to grow dimmer
as winter came.

Until finally,
the cacti hiding beneath the rosemary
were the sole survivors of the frost.

Star Signs

Paint orion on my back
with kisses and bites
and I will remember
that I must stop you
for when morning comes
I must return you
from my starry sea to your fire love.

Whitman

In the door-yard
fronting an old farm-house,
near the white-wash’d palings,

Stands the lilac bush,
tall-growing,
with heart-shaped leaves of rich green

With many a pointed blossom,
rising, delicate,
with the perfume strong I love

With every leaf a miracle
and from this bush
in the door-yard,

With delicate-color’d blossoms,
and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,    
A sprig, with its flower, I break.

Lines

I have missed your mouth most,
the smile as well as the kisses,
and though I respect this boundary I have made,
I still begrudge the person for whom I made it.

When the first leaf fell...

When the first leaf fell,
it drifted down the rough bark of your face
before landing on the ground.

The next day,
with bare branches,
I saw the haunted look in your eyes.