Hoarding

My truck
is a depository
for discarded garments.

The shirts and shorts
that kept me company,
now returned,

were first replaced
by the sweater of your housemate,
her ex,

and now the shorts
of your ex
and former roommate.

Have my discarded clothes
ever been testament
to a failure?

Freezing Rain

The freezing rain

of your indifference
coats me until
I am like
the trees outside
your house, bare
branches curling in
on themselves, protecting
the small buds
of possible leaves

Tuesdays

Why do I prefer

this weekly torture
to sitting by myself at home?

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?

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

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.

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.

Insult #1

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

words.

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.

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.

Bedsheets

I must give you up,
my security blanket
and let you rest
on someone else's bed
before I learn to share sheets
with this new comforter,
who may
one day
become my security blanket.

4am Rain

The night I promised myself
I would stop
loving you
you kissed me on the cheek
and told me
    I was the best
girl.

You held me as I held
my sobbing friend
wavering on my high heeled
whiskey filled feet.

     When we left so she
could cry
              alone
you stayed with us
distracted us
with talk of video games
and the little jokes
that run
amongst our friends.

     When we sat in the back
of my truck
and it began to rain,
  it felt
like a movie
    soft
and tasting like 4:30am.

I wanted to kiss you
but your girl was right
up the road

After the Party

In our sleep,
our limbs curled
around each other,

begging that the other
not leave
but when morning came
with coffee and consequences,

we sat
in our separate chairs
and never mentioned
the tell tale marks
from the night before.

Lenguas

Voy a hablar con ti
en la lengua de tu madre
porque me antoja
que las palabras en ésa lengua.

Pero mis palabras
que necesite menos
de lo que necesite
mis labios en tu cuello y espalda.

Espero a que aún esta lengua
que sólo hablan cuando cansado
que se le susurró
en mi oído
como el sueño a mi lado

In English:
I will speak to you
in the language of your mother
because i crave
your words in that language

but my words
you need less
thank you need
my lips on your neck and back

I only hope that this, the language
you only speak while tired
is the one you will whisper 
in my ear
as you sleep beside me

Morning Afters

Como él habló conmigo,
me comí sus palabras,
creyendo que eran para mí.

Pero sus palabras son
para mis besos,
no para mí,
para mis labios,
no para mí,
para mis brazos
y todo lo mio ahora
es suyo


In English:

When he spoke to me
I ate his words
believing they were for me


But his words are
for my kisses
not for me
for my lips 
not for me
for my arms
and all that was mine
is now his