Poems June 2010

Solumnant
Unwholesome in a bikini
Dragged behind a truck to hide it all away
Never did anyone find out
About the time behind the clothes in the closet
When the air was dew thick and smelled of berries

Climb into all those empty spaces
Run across the train tracks til you're home and new
Greeted at the door with your depression burning in my nose
A glance around to check the exit situation
The phone is loudly silent
The baby knaws on a salmon bone
We say our goodbyes too soon

The night is as long as arms unwrapped
around the world
With cricket fingers and spider fingers crawling
across a shoulder
A small of the back
To nestle like warm nothings on the
bosom of your ear
Lips chaste and chapped repeat stories in a vague manner
Stuttering, a nervous pause
A missed word here or there
Later I wash my hands
I dip my hands in cool water
And press then against my shut eyes

Did you drink to forget
Or because you couldn't remember the last time you heard good news about yourself?

I heard good news about me:
It was the scratch of a crow on a bleak fall day, a field painted by Wyeth
It lasted but a second before the wind took it away

Doug, your lopsided grin
Smiles down on me I hope
As I try to do my best
Or try to convince myself I'm doing my best
Am I ok, Doug? Dad? Louis?

Daddy, am I ok?

Still reeling
Still dancing
With my feet knocked out
And my teeth kicked in
But you can't kill me
Cause I've got get up and go
Which is what I will do