When You are Really Famous 10/2001

When you are really famous, I will be sitting in a diner by myself
Sipping weak coffee and eating a stale pastry.
And then I hope you will remember
My face as I look out the window and see you
In your glamorous limo and all
The different women at your side.
Our eyes meet, eyesore rankles
And gives gloomy reminders
Of things [...]

YOU… – Jewel -

You with your
gentle lightning
spinning like Orion,
full of muscle
and all the patience
of stars.
Hooked upon the pinnacle
of a desire
that arrests
itself,
caught on the crossfires
of what could be,
my mind turns to you:
A pin hole of light
that softly hums
and murmurs
whose blurry edges
beg to come into view.

Locked Doors

Locked Doors
by Anne Sexton
For the angels who inhabit this town,
although their shape constantly changes,
each night we leave some cold potatoes
and a bowl of milk on the windowsill.
Usually they inhabit heaven where,
by the way, no tears are allowed.
They push the moon around like
a boiled yam.
The Milky Way is their hen
with her many children.
When it is night [...]

Billowing Habit

Square Dancing with Sister Robert Claire
by Michael Cleary
First week of junior high, Kel wised off to her
same as he’d done to the one all year before.
I can still see it. Her so short, the uppercut put
all her weight under the whack of her pudgy fist
against the V of his chin. Kel arching a back-dive, landing
legs [...]

sarah with the red door has impeccable taste

so you want to be a writer? — Bukowski

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re [...]

My Power Stripped

Vile sky
It hangs crookedly
It hands me bay leaves
Telling me to break off the stems
And to let it stew
California sunshine, on the Boardwalk
A pebble in my shoe
Velcro that won’t stick
Hairspray that won’t hold
He unbuckles my belt and looks at my feet
What is her story? Oppressive
Tendencies never worked
False Peace treaties, solemn oaths were never signed
My heart beats [...]

You Should Write About You.

So let me write about me, then
Pre-Moistened cleansing towelette
Ripping toenails
Ripped biceps, not triceps, what a lie
Crows feet
A bob, extra volume vavoom, kaboom, get a room
Gazelle kicks pronghorn prances
Bouncy flouncy flaunt
                                                      Grin
Organic giggle
Indigo, maybe, speckles of      light      in between, always
Scraped knees, scarred elbow, lead lip remnants, a beagle bit my ear
One book, two, maybe more
Sleepless nights, insomnia, [...]

An Open Door –William Reichard

An Open Door
Across the sanctuary of a community church
a door stands ajar; stained glass windows
allow only some of the sun to enter; filtered
yellow, red, opalescent green drench the pews.
On the altar converted to stage, a circle of
students contemplates a question of vocation.
Through the open door, only light, daytime
invading the intimate dim familiar in churches,
the hazy [...]

Waking

I do not know
what it would be like
to get stuck
to stammer
to shake my hands
to grind my teeth
to grimace
to repeat myself
over and over and over
I do not know
what it would be like
to be stuck
to attempt to process information I do not understand
to read words unfamiliar
to skip words
to not grasp concepts
to miss context clues
to not flow
to be [...]