Gold Star

we arrange gold stars

your name is arrangements

I borrow beg

and still

the grind of white tooth

dust

halts

stratified mouths

I learned today

despite expansion

rocks will land blood first

name me another gold star

Ram and Swan

The whole of life I've spent a Ram
Resisting what I could not comprehend;
I've stood my ground until the very end,
White water rushing up and o'er the dam
Could never shake me free from what I am.
Raw hide, hard hoof with strength prepared to lend
No mountainside or stream could me offend,
Not hesitant to overtake the lamb.
Tomorrow I will wake up as a Swan
And glide above the water as it parts
And ripples 'cross the pond in pulsing hearts;
My shimmering neck will beg for gaze at dawn
And silver feathers dance when moonrise starts;
As quiet as a summer's dream, then gone.

April Sunset

There was no way to know
As I stood in a trance
In a showery fog
And perfume cloud
In my mother's doorway
Every Sunday morning
As she spent over an hour
Caking on rouge
And smoothing it out
With a wet sponge
That I would feel
Exactly the same
Every April sunset.

I Like You Best In Summer

I like you best in summer
When bees buzz 'round your mouth;
Glistening haunches stick to leather
Point my curling toes to south.
You're a lazy poolside day
My skin swells up from sun;
Tiny heat escapes your nostrils,
Sways the glimmering web we've spun.

Love Sonnet 2

Such sober looks carry lustful suspense
As daylight spins like crystals - rainbow clear -
And open as a shining hazel mirror.
You tremble through the field and o'er the fence,
My cheeks alight with phantom felt events
Until between two cotton sheets, my dear,
Your gentle hands, e'en softer lips appear
To clarify again my clouded sense.
But lonely are the drunken nights that fall
And steeped with sweat the hem of untouched gown.
I watch your ghost in smoke rings walk the hall,
So weary of the dead, I roll the stone
Away and paint a smile above my frown
And stumble through the streets 'til I fall down.

I Am Blank

I am blank
black hole
slate rich
saturation
possibility of all
endless
solid space
potential
infinite and still
I am blank

Love Sonnet

An Italian Sonnet

To take a love for granted never lit
A fire; never blew the roof away;
It never begged the storms of night to stay.
A fallow field that aches with crack and split
Is cursed to lie beside lush meadows fit.
Cemented in while out the door love strays--
A slave to iron words too crude to say--
So unexpressed, this love will die in secret.
The hopelessly romantic has a knack
For filling every nook and cranny sweetly,
But often as it finds a match completely
Another perfect suitor slips in back;
Left powerless to toe the line discretely,
Romantic's always fraught with what may lack.

When I Smell Cedar

Fuzzy Saturday morning sun rays
Fall through
Grass clipping clouds;
Pee-wee's laugh leaps out the open window;
An ice cream truck jingle
orbits closer and closer;
My daddy's leather hands
grant me two glinting coins.

Animal Law

A sevenling.

I like to brush up on humans--
Rub their elbows in the hall,
Bat my lashes, scratch their backs.

I review animal law
Crouched with open palm stretch,
Wide open eyes, no fear of attack.

I've yet to study a creature with a thing to lack.

The Life of a Dear John Letter

bone bleached fibers burdened with messages
of goodbyes too cruel for fear-strained throats
traverse o'er bottomless waters on boats
to reveal late-night tear-stained passages
dropped conspicuously when tide recedes
an omen unspoken whose life precedes
frantic eyes scanning and an ear that itches

Tentative

Even if this came crashing down on our heads
If you found you a girl and you wished I was dead
It was worth it
You're more than a body to me

Tentative plans made in the knee-deep snow
Got me wishing for summer but there's no way to know
What will happen
And you don't owe me a thing

I see a man in the moon but I've got no proof
He fades at the morning and the mention of truth
Just believe me
I know what we're doing here

Fireworks on the plane on that American flight
Blue eyes on the horizon but no closure in sight
Well maybe
I'll break my own damn heart this time

Sandwich Artist

She was a sandwich artist
At sixteen summers old
Oblivious to what she had no way to know
Like how many loaves to put in the oven
Or how to engage the big slicer thingy
Or how to fill sauces without making a mess

She belted Shania loudly into the broom
Danced wildly while washing knives
Looked every customer square in the eyes
Earned a custom sandwich after every shift
Then one day she decided it was not a good fit
And had her sister call in for her

The Horse Next Door

Her smooth feathered hide lay firmly on sleek
muscles, twitching for flies. Irritation
wells inside, for nobility should not
be inconvenienced by paper thin wings
that survive mere days. Dew beads up on her
silken strands while my translucent skin scrapes
across trench wire. No clicking, calling, or
kissing will summon the earth shaking stomps
I seek to feel below, but scents of fruit
enchant her sway. For a moment, I sink
to know that my hands alone could never
be worthy to draw her sweet breath closer.

Another High Rise Dream

I was staying in a high rise apartment much like the one in Waikiki. It's always been the same one, even before I went to Hawaii. There were two bedrooms connected to mine by sliding glass doors; you were staying in the one on the left and my old friend from back home was staying in the one on the right.

It was really late at night and I was visiting my friend on her side. It was dark and relaxing there, with dark brown wooden book cases and soft, earth colored throws everywhere. She looked beautiful; she wearing an oversized knit sweater that hung off her toned, milky-white shoulders just below her golden blonde hair.

In contrast to the relaxing environment, her energy was manic and off-putting. She paced around, listing of all the accomplishments that she had achieved while being a single mother, one of which was law school. I didn't know that she had gone to law school and a feeling of 'am I doing enough?' started slowly creeping in, so I stopped listening to the words she was saying and began, instead, listening to the sounds emitting from her mouth. Even though she was acting strange and made me uncomfortable, I didn't want to leave. She started giving me 'I'm going to bed now so get out of here' signals. I gave in and retreated to my room. I felt lonely.

I thought about going over to your side but I figured you were sleeping and I didn't want to bother you. I knew you had to catch an early flight home in the morning. Out of the corner of my eye I saw your reflection in the glass of a huge framed pictured on my wall. You were standing up. Stretching. I thought, 'You're up!'

As I got up to head to your room, a large middle-aged black man wearing a bell hop uniform burst out the door carrying your clothing away on hangers. I asked him what was going on and he said that your flight was actually tonight and he was helping you get ready. I stood there at the sliding glass door looking into your room and I could see you moving around but I could never get a good look at you. Your room was washed out with bright, white light and empty except for some clothes on hangers. I wanted to go in but I resisted.

You turned toward me and walked into my room, passing me abruptly without speaking. I finally saw that you had no face. It was just a flat, blank, flesh-colored surface where your face should have been.

I spent the rest of the night watching you pack, silently wishing that you weren't leaving and that I could be close to you.

Date Night

All orbits are in order
Gravity is firm

Through shimmering untouched snow

Tender swooping rings of light
Drag bits of bygones behind

Bodies skim bruised terrain

In another dimension
Two worlds are colliding

But that is not happening here