Waking up in Wilkinsburg
for the grocery night shift
legs burning to pound pavement
and tackle a new day
designed for bare fingertips
against house hedges along the sidewalk
to feel the cool.
Tear bed sheets away and see
the silverfish scatter. Wind ripped rain drops.
Raining again. Against window glass.
Pack extra socks. Pack the Sherlock
with cherry vanilla.
Today is going to be alright.
Beth is going to try to one up the story.
Tell it anyway in the locker room
because you will, for a moment,
cross the years and share
first times, hanging up wet jackets.
original works of parts
Don't Lie To Me
Chewing bubblegum and popping it on molars
the way I learned to do in high school,
the way the bad bitches taught me
when I was writing porn poems and learning
how to beat my feet to slow reggae.
Don't lie to me. Don't fucking lie to me.
Fuck me harder than I can take.
Kiss me harder than I want.
Break my windows, key my car,
eat my dreams up with urine rain,
cut my dreams up, bring your pain,
but don't lie to me. See me in double vision,
but don't lie to me.
I will remember. And count off the time
until I have nothing to lose and everything to gain
in meeting up with pen and paper
with your name to cross out
in my back pocket. Seeya later,
in the meantime popping bubblegum
to bring me back to happier wherevers
when my sister and I fought
over who got the car for the day and who
put more gas in it.
the way I learned to do in high school,
the way the bad bitches taught me
when I was writing porn poems and learning
how to beat my feet to slow reggae.
Don't lie to me. Don't fucking lie to me.
Fuck me harder than I can take.
Kiss me harder than I want.
Break my windows, key my car,
eat my dreams up with urine rain,
cut my dreams up, bring your pain,
but don't lie to me. See me in double vision,
but don't lie to me.
I will remember. And count off the time
until I have nothing to lose and everything to gain
in meeting up with pen and paper
with your name to cross out
in my back pocket. Seeya later,
in the meantime popping bubblegum
to bring me back to happier wherevers
when my sister and I fought
over who got the car for the day and who
put more gas in it.
Smoker 35
"I hope that shakes out for you."
"I don't."
In a good way, passes between our ears.
In one brain stem and out the other
like coal boiler steam.
"It never does," brassy and hammer whistle.
"It never does," stubbing it out on the bricks.
"You want to go back in?" August has been disgusting,
sweaty and shiny like porn casual Wednesday
everyday, and everything over priced,
glasses sliding on their own condensation
as much as spit flecks from
the everyone busy getting down.
"Yeah." The kids are back in school. "I was not carded
once all summer. Not once," stubbing it out on the bricks.
Back in town. With fakes. "Free time is a bitch."
"I don't."
In a good way, passes between our ears.
In one brain stem and out the other
like coal boiler steam.
"It never does," brassy and hammer whistle.
"It never does," stubbing it out on the bricks.
"You want to go back in?" August has been disgusting,
sweaty and shiny like porn casual Wednesday
everyday, and everything over priced,
glasses sliding on their own condensation
as much as spit flecks from
the everyone busy getting down.
"Yeah." The kids are back in school. "I was not carded
once all summer. Not once," stubbing it out on the bricks.
Back in town. With fakes. "Free time is a bitch."
Flame Out at 20,000 Feet
Power off. Pull back
on all four throttles. Sky turns to ground cloud cover.
The stars wink to life in the thinning cotton balls.
Little night time windows. Air speed dial spinning
black white, black white, and the numbers
counting up and up. Up and up. Up and up.
Save time to roll out. Roll. Roll. Roll
wings hard and twanging in the wind
the way sheet metal only does
under stress. Contrails blow in the wake
where air pressure screams.
Toggle fuel. Toggle fuel.
Hear the switch go through the fabric of the glove fingertips.
Vanes and wicked fast spin and
fire blooming red and gold and white and
hydraulics pushing surface to air and up and up.
fire blooming red and gold and white and
hydraulics pushing surface to air and up and up.
Up and up. Back through the ceiling,
punched through like a hammer nose through brick.
"You really need to get a life," tail ends of conversation.
Gear up. Air brakes in. Vertical climb.
New time to altitude record
stays elusive. The books and dials and meters will show.
"I know." Canopy glint in a smile. Afterburners
do not work in outer space. "I will race you
back down."
Divide By Zero
Patience and fury. In a bottle. The cool
don't wear shoes in the death of August.
Ice cold whiskey will sit quite happy
beneath a blanket of hot coffee. Yeah. Yes. Chea. Yesh,
please. I make giant eyes when I hear. Okay and not
the words of brain misfires. On the phone. Heels on the wall.
Toes making shadow puppet stories of the fall
of a kingdom and its horses.
In and out. Control board fader goes on its own.
Along for the ride. Loneliness is not much of a talker.
With the wind on your mind. His footsteps sound
distance. Wait for him to break in and sleep
with a hatchet in your pillow case. Sometimes.
Destroy everything that touches down too far inside.
Avoid windows. When the riflemen are watching.
Walk home a different way. Every evening
we count up the stars. Until the night sky
breaks. Open up to
some kind of empty and shatter. The JATO bottle
against the bottom of a trash can.
No one knows. Our little secret. Is safe.
We will find them. We will find them.
Pax de something. If this is being without war
then we will find blood and shed it.
You are too beautiful when you smile. Onward
to the third star on the right. Straight on 'til morning
and you'll know when. You've arrived.
don't wear shoes in the death of August.
Ice cold whiskey will sit quite happy
beneath a blanket of hot coffee. Yeah. Yes. Chea. Yesh,
please. I make giant eyes when I hear. Okay and not
the words of brain misfires. On the phone. Heels on the wall.
Toes making shadow puppet stories of the fall
of a kingdom and its horses.
In and out. Control board fader goes on its own.
Along for the ride. Loneliness is not much of a talker.
With the wind on your mind. His footsteps sound
distance. Wait for him to break in and sleep
with a hatchet in your pillow case. Sometimes.
Destroy everything that touches down too far inside.
Avoid windows. When the riflemen are watching.
Walk home a different way. Every evening
we count up the stars. Until the night sky
breaks. Open up to
some kind of empty and shatter. The JATO bottle
against the bottom of a trash can.
No one knows. Our little secret. Is safe.
We will find them. We will find them.
Pax de something. If this is being without war
then we will find blood and shed it.
You are too beautiful when you smile. Onward
to the third star on the right. Straight on 'til morning
and you'll know when. You've arrived.
Pocket of Peace
Quiet. Is it peace or is it sadness.
Nothing answers back.
The birds are minding their business,
inside jokes flipping between tree limbs.
I gave away my old mattress
to a gray haired woman next door.
New on her feet from
the shelter downtown.
I remember my time sleeping on floors,
staring at the crack in the baseboard
nights awake because they come to eat you
the moment you close your eyes.
Making angels in snow,
white and wet on her skin, on that mattress
like I did. Back when. Does my body
smell like her son? "You should have been here sooner
I made cookies yesterday and ate them all."
Tie shoes, pull on my cap and say goodbye.
Quiet radio static. Peace is a myth. Over my shoulder
nothing falling apart, only into place.
"I'm scared. I'm scared to death."
My cheek against hers, our lips to one another's ears,
The creases in her skin wipe my tear.
"Come over whenever you need to. I'll talk to you.
I don't mind."
Nothing answers back.
The birds are minding their business,
inside jokes flipping between tree limbs.
I gave away my old mattress
to a gray haired woman next door.
New on her feet from
the shelter downtown.
I remember my time sleeping on floors,
staring at the crack in the baseboard
nights awake because they come to eat you
the moment you close your eyes.
Making angels in snow,
white and wet on her skin, on that mattress
like I did. Back when. Does my body
smell like her son? "You should have been here sooner
I made cookies yesterday and ate them all."
Tie shoes, pull on my cap and say goodbye.
Quiet radio static. Peace is a myth. Over my shoulder
nothing falling apart, only into place.
"I'm scared. I'm scared to death."
My cheek against hers, our lips to one another's ears,
The creases in her skin wipe my tear.
"Come over whenever you need to. I'll talk to you.
I don't mind."
32 Bits
The tree outside the window is shedding
32 bit resolution leaves between cut edge sunshine
turning lawn ornament pinwheel brisk.
Insert coin.
The song, waking up, is memory chip limited.
Blow bricks of gray white highlighted
smoke tetris blocks. Breakfast disappears
one pixel at a time.
Over the hill, the boss castle shines
despite squared lightning and thunderhead above.
Start, select, options, equip:
scattergun, A, grenades, B, health pack, A
jump jets, A, socks and sneakers, A,
shield, B; three, two, one, go!
32 bit resolution leaves between cut edge sunshine
turning lawn ornament pinwheel brisk.
Insert coin.
The song, waking up, is memory chip limited.
Blow bricks of gray white highlighted
smoke tetris blocks. Breakfast disappears
one pixel at a time.
Over the hill, the boss castle shines
despite squared lightning and thunderhead above.
Start, select, options, equip:
scattergun, A, grenades, B, health pack, A
jump jets, A, socks and sneakers, A,
shield, B; three, two, one, go!
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