POEM A DAY 2020

//

Here-ness
Ever ending
Narrows
Closer to a minute
Your likeness
Was too far off
To be handheld
Like mine
I will never again
Be sure

The trouble is in the land

It was a hate hoax
On a curse buried so so deep

But what’s that grin
As wide as victory
Seeing sweetness
With the bitter swallows fading
Out of sight
From the mountain top
That force stronger than gravity
Bending
A troubled land

"""

A time before land
Everything got erased
I think I was alive

&&&

What happened to motherhood
Slowly dissolved
From overexposure
Skin touched skin
Again again again again
Once maddeningly sweet
Turned maddening
But still sweet somehow
Beneath that bitter herb, resentment
And the high boil of anger
Here and there
I'm still here

NEW LAUNDRY LINE (EMO LAUNDRY POEM)

Shadow economy

What does it reveal:
The extra cold shadow outside the Whole Foods on Houston?
The straining whistle from one homeless man
To another across four lanes of traffic?
The new ancient grain for 6.99 a pound?
The aisles filled with employees
Pushing shopping carts full of goods
To be biked and lugged
and gently placed in soft hands?

***

Those wise old drunks
Speaking truth to any passerby
You should see us when we’re sober
Seduction!
I’m sorry but I’m not man
It’s who I am seduction bro
I haven’t seen him in a couple days 
I’m worried about him

Look at his eyes man
Where’s he at?
Sorry man I’m a Sagittarius
I always looks up
It’s in my genes
Who wants to look at dirt
But we need it all
Earth Wind and Fire
Cabrón
New York child
You thought you were
Fast
But kids in New York... 
That is your number one
That’s you

Vice versa

And I don’t like asking nobody for the sky
You know that

Inheritance

It’s been a long time coming
And not for nothing
But I wasn’t here at the start
And yet
I am cut from this cloth
Which I forget
Morning noon and night
Oh the horror it takes
To shock me out right
I learned to hold tight
To this cloak and
Never let it slip

What’s yours

Now everyone is a consumer
4:30 and he still wasn’t back
Core and the enrichment
5 o’clock still wasn’t back
Loosies on the sidewalk
Lay your hair out for the taking
It’s all mine for the taking
I’ll show you the receipts

The accidental life

Strobe lights on the off beats
Collision of tender knees
We were all leaving
At the same time
Our goodbye was the breath
We didn’t take
The exhale as we
turned our backs
I tie your shoe laces
On the stairs
I’m never closer
I tie my hair up
With my hair
My bowl is empty
The night
The night again

Bunker down

Listening to Tubthumping in the
Bougie food court
In the basement of a high rise
M bouncing his head
Pointing his fingers up and down
I remember arguing
Is it kissing or pissing the night away?
I didn’t know about either
Time is closing in
What do I know?
I like being a few steps
behind

short dollar

she used to smoke weed
she was Nia's niece
what did you think
this practice was going to be?
I'm bad with names
but I remember small things
your small eyes

~~~

I can start things in my sleep
I can sleep walk through the sunlight
I can gloss my eyes and dream
about when this damn day will be over
I can stay awake at night
Making circular lists
of things to start
In the morning

Made up

The sun squares my ascendant
But you don’t want to hear about it
If I hide under the covers
How long til you come look for me?
My moon opposes the midheaven
Your mom won’t tell me what time you were born
So I can’t know you
Let’s leave well enough alone
I’ll have my own room
A web of fabrics coffee cups
My heart is scraps and candy wrappers
I come from junk
To junk I will return

whittle

Let’s find a feeling buried underneath the moving
Let’s move the feeling from the box and air it out
People are peeling off
It feels like
Loss
Abandonment (prophecy fulfilled)
People peel off clothing
Put the caps back on drinks
Find their way to a bed waiting
All the specific objects have been packed away
It’s generic from here on out

brotherhood

My brother wound up out west
Unraveling but eating good
Speaking in the third person
In elaborate terms
He’s a good man
He’s trying to be good
And it makes him paranoid
He’s calling out the
white supremacist capitalist patriarchy
Which makes some people upset
There’s so much to call out
It could wind you up
Or unravel you
It’s hard for you to be around
Which makes it hard be around you in
This white supremacist capitalist patriarchal society

209 (Emmanuels)

Lucas Ave Ext (Wedding day)

the firemen come drop off the tables and chairs
the soccer team sets up the tent
there is a moment behind the house
with the autistic cousin
where everyone is bonding
in a positive way
but also feels like it must be
at his expense
like with the shy red haired kid
the popular boys started to call
buff after he left the outside of his
identity paper bag blank because
nobody sees me
and the cousin's name is duff
and the old high school crush
from the soccer team
tries to hold my hand
what future scenario could be beyond
imagining?
(that marriage didn't last)
what union is infallible?
how many tables will you need for
the next wedding?

Peak Road (One)

he wanted his mom
to take down her Obama poster
after he was elected
or else it was too much
like worshipping a dictator

he wanted to live
on the 28 hour day schedule
but was getting lonely

after we'd broken up
he gave me back my bobby pins
that he'd found strewn around his room

he was particular
both our hair was thick and curly
we were youthful
but him more so

I took something from him
in his basement I think

why can't we all just stay in love?
add new ones to the old ones in a big pile?

the darkness all around
and the headlights of my car steering home
my brake lights know all the curves