Gets quiet
The moment
I interrupt his song
He’s been working on
For years
Or days
Lost sleep over
The arabesques and triplets
The dotted-eighths and coda couplets
-Silence-
Maybe he’s embarrassed
Maybe it’s not finished yet
I walked in on him
In deep rehearsal
Something so personal
A journey of his own
Self discovery
Melodically
And I
thump-thump-thump
Giant rhythmic distraction
Took him away from
The immediacy of his expression
His pavement flat
One-inch-tall symposium
His absolutely rapt
moment
of transcendentalism
My approach
Will still his tongue
My departure
and he starts up his song
Picking up where he left off
finishing after I’m completely gone
July 13, 2022
Full, yes
All crescents round
shadows turned down
The dark sides extinguished
And if
there’s a man up there
He grins sheepishly
From the soft orange
tiger lily
-but diluted
Cream white of a peony
(pastel circus peanut)
(muted meringue cookie)
What I’m saying, my dear
Is your blood moon
-It bores me
Where’s the drip?
The slick
Rich
crimson of an organ
near black of a fresh spill
That tightens and squelches
Look! It’s
Receded behind a cloud
What now?
Do we draw breath in its vacancy?
Allow ourselves a reprieve
Is that it?
Or is it embarrassed?
Humble in its bloodlessness
I wanted the taste of metal
The real shock of it all
I wanted my goddamn heart strung up
Pulled through
-Lampooned!
Something for my lungs to cry out to
A reason to expand and contract
Too
But, alas...
The vampires gather
At the 24-hour diner
And werewolves line the soda shops
Nothing unusual tonight, they’ll say
adjusting their stakes and
Dabbing their lips
We were told of a wonder
A biannual
Celestial creature
But what we see there
-steady phosphorescence
Familiar in its listlessness
Is that borrowed mediocrity
neither fire nor heat
Turn your calendars to August
Your blood moon, it bores me
July 30, 2018
Her name was Susan
Or is Susan
I’m not sure if she’s dead yet
Or still living
Her house
still standing
Her fence
painted silver every spring
a quiet old lady
Walked her aging dogs
Around the block
religiously
Rain or sleet
She didn’t care for the heat
She once told me
“I like the cold”
She said
“I get more housework done then”
What is it Susan?
Arranging the cases of Mountain Dew
That pile up on your patio
Or cleaning your window
The one I see you behind
Every time I walk anywhere
If you’re not outside
You’re always there
Planted
In front of the TV
Watching the world go by
Watching everyone else
Love and dance and die
The bright glow
Blues and greens
Susan hobbled sideways
And loved to say good morning
And keep eye contact while you walked by
imploring
a longer Conversation
She was lonely
And it was palpable
Did she marry?
Or has she always been single?
Widow?
I could only guess
Piece together her story
Truth is
SUSAN TERRIFIED ME
I saw myself in her
-Elderly
-Lonely
Watching a world go by
That’s left me years behind
Maybe all she needed
Was her dogs walked
And garden weeded
By any young man that would do it for her
Maybe she’s
A rich family somewhere
And wants nothing to do with them
Maybe she’s
spinster by intention
Her carpe diem
Never changes
Never sways
I avoided her
Phantom from the future
To remind me to make plans
Hoard friends
Get married as fast as you can
So you don’t end up like
Susan