Inside and Out

The potato man
carries me around
in a container
made for french fries.

The things you left behind
are growing.

The pantry is emptying
itself into the kitchen.
I watch as my
stale-bread of hands
crumble to the floor.

Once stirred,
the batter of you
thickens.

Stuck between my teeth -
the ovary of an apple tree

The dreaming of murder
again and again.
One flower peeks its head
above the leaves.

The homeless man with blond hair,
who passes by our window,
he is screaming at his own screaming
again and again.
The echo of a siren,
the cry of an ambulance
carrying ghosts through the city.

Lifting her higher and higher
all I could see was her smiling.
And then,
she was gone,
leaving me with arms outstretched
and the wind in my hands.

Suffering walks along a road,
shaking hands with passersby
and smiling at tiny faces in strollers.
He pretends he is not unwelcome.

Seeking refuge in my mind,
we drill in hopes
of finding something alive.

Seawater rises and falls
as a crusty line of salt
moves up and down her calf.

8 poems in 4 minutes...

The forest spills over
into the child's mind.
---------------
So rotten I've become
in the bath of bananas
-------------------
Sour hilltops rest above her.
She sings facing downward.
---------------------
I spotted a cow in the hill.
Clouds collapse upon us.
-----------------
She bashed his skull
and let brain juices ooze
like rice-crispies and milk.
--------------------
She waits for me across time
like the slicing of one's internals
with a knife made of bread.
-----------------
Silly panda bears
have entrapped the cage,
and keep it hostage
so diligently.
-------------------
The morning hangs
like a bug in a web.

I saw a parade today,
and the patron saint of crumbling
visiting scattered homes
around New Orleans.

An empty
coat rack
creaks its
witchy fingers

A dash or two

Softness mashed into a pot -
We lie silently in bed.
----------------------------
Under the cover of rain -
we drip upon each other
with our eyes closed.

Perhaps
this evening
when the cleaning lady
makes her rounds,
she will say a prayer
before disposing of me.

Cell-less

Like a clown performing
a disappearing trick,
I lose my phone at the circus.
Honk Honk! (but no ring)

Summer Romance in the City

The concrete is warm.

A man is swinging a woman by her feet,
breaking her against a pole.
She sighs calmly
and waits for the fit to end.

Somewhere around the corner,
a small dog dry humps a leg.

A foggy patch
in a bend of road.
Unfocused, my mind
turns to her instead.

Everything is the same.

[Rewind and play again]

Everything is the same.

Light from underneath the door
shines in the place you once were.

Twice

Walking the dog along the same path
tonight that I did this morning.

I abandoned you once by leaving,
and then again by my making you go.

She calls,
but the ring just echoes.
A bird mourning in an empty barn.

I saw a single leaf fall
or maybe it was two,
yet the yard
is covered
orange, brown, and yellow.

She stands like a stone
at the top of the stairs,
and I look up to her
across rows and rows
of horizontal slats receding.

The phone screams,
and under the bed
I go, again.

Life and Death

I suppose
if I had worn you
more like a jacket,
than it would be easier
to just slide you off my shoulders,
and walk out of the room.

But I wore you like a tumor
rooted deep in vital organs.
Something that I might have cut out in chunks,
but remains despite my best of efforts.

Falling off the edge of a cliff
like falling up a wall.
She flirts with a disastrous turn around,
and sinks deeper into the ground.

Potato skins
shedding on the floor.
Onion rings around her eyes.
Milky tears overflow from
the sink onto her lap.
Somehow tonight,
we manage to cook dinner.

Across the Hallway

The sounds
of sobbing
in a room
so far,
kept awake
my dreams
of still
loving her

The light from the window
in the far corner
flirts with me,
and I blush
for the first time
in a long long while.

Upon dropping it the second time,
the vase cracks in places old and new

An ending brought on
with no end in sight.
Turn around my friend,
turn around.

Just a few hours
till a new flower blooms.
I wait in the basement
to destroy it.

Compound Interest

We've made the mistake
of letting each other
in to our lives
to make mistake
after mistake.

So much about us
depends on what I
choose to do next.
I wonder how you can stand it?

Skin unfolds
in a bed with you.
In a car driving away
my minds turns
to other things.

How is it
that we could have curved
so much
the straight lines
of our lives
to intersect
here?

I left you
in bed and by
afternoon,
I had counted
six
long hairs which
were not mine.

Every morning it is the same -
I awake to her sleeping
and then leave.

The morning yearns for coffee,
and nudges me awake.

Sourness diffuses
across a room,
filling every pause.

The Children of Sugar Loaf Mountain

Trail maps
folded into
tiny paper airplanes
litter the path
of my ascent.

A young boy sits
in his driveway
washing his shadow
with a soapy sponge.

Disappearing Trick

She washes herself
in the bathtub
scrubbing at skin
until it melts off
and slides toward the drain.

Epidemiology

A young man plagiarizes himself,
makes tiny illegal copies of his thoughts
and spreads them out like a virus.

Reminders of Loneliness (1)

A bottle of cleaner
collects dust by the window

Reminders of Loneliness (2)

A basket tips
its emptiness
into the room.

Reminders of Loneliness (3)

A pair of shoes
tossed to the corner
huddled close to each other.

Cast Iron Skillet

At the end of another week,
sadness looms over the fact
that we've gotten along so well.