Highway Ghosts

ghosts laugh behind red lights
mock 290 and Lamar
tease Oltorf and Lamar
taunt 5th and Lamar
torment Airport and Lamar
scorn Rundberg and Lamar
up up they gaily tread
the highways their highways
gobble up white broken lines
knock over leaning houses
rip up swaying bluebonnets
guzzle up red quicksand
grow weary at the border
the one we never reached
take refuge in high neon lights
still smirking in their sleep
every place to come a cruel jest
another revel for the ghosts

April Fools

the beginning was not
when the whiskey bottle
shattered
on the karaoke floor
or the moment we noticed
and salivated for more

or when summer sirens blew
on Terrible Tuesday
five years and nine days
before that tearful Thursday
when my mother cried out
my drunk father's name

or when the sweat from her legs
from a day at the fair
caught his old tired eyes
but failed
to reflect
what nine months would bear

it was not when you kissed me
on my birthday lips
or slapped my whiskey hand
from your zipped up intent
no, darling
that was the end

Morning Song

In the morning I cry
I love you! I love you!

Burning star in my dark sky

When the sky turns blue
I know you're still there

Hallelu! Hallelu! Hallelu!

At night when I cry
I need you! I need you!

Horizons swallow me whole

Pointed north true to you

I arrive in the morn

Cockadoo! Cockadoo! Cockadoo!

Domicile

In the kitchen glass window
my gingham fades,
shows through either side

In that way
you know it's rained out
before you even wake up

Its ceramic apple pie
wafts out no tempting scent

The melted sun
mumbles five o'clock
somewhere

I vanish between its streaks

Lai 1

two velveteen thighs
milk in tea the skies
dissolved
felted brim disguise
pulled o'er quicksand eyes
unsolved
glow behind high rise
snuffed before it dies
absolved

Hatchback

I lost my lip gloss
somewhere
down below

and a half-drunk beer
and a ham-burger wrapper

I tic-tac-toe
up against
your skull bones

and glossy lips glow
and glossy eyes roll

the headrest reclines
my knee skin
declines

and you howl at the moon
and you wildly scatter

mementos
you'll find
come morning time

but that lip gloss
will never be found

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.