...and if getting there
is everything,
what am I to do upon arrival?
greet this world
with a glint of teeth
in a rose-lipped mouth?
moan like the
inside of an egg?
my pillow gut orders me
to turn it all around
head back,
eyes on the dirt
feel the bones
of someone
that walked this way
long ago.
to shut or hem in.
close in on all sides.
a valley enclosed by
tall mountains. tall trees
around the campsite. to
insert in the same envelope,
package, or the like. a
dark space. to make it
private. bound on all
sides. contain. surround.
circle. ring. girdle. confine.
encompass. corral. fence in.
fear of these spaces. confine.
the drama of your birth
was considerably
quiet.
without a scream
to enter this world,
you were born
from a subtle
push into beginning.
how will you ever understand
the meaning of silence?
the sun is the loudest moment
you can remember.
last I knew, you were married,
bouncing babies on both hips.
last I knew, you were somewhere in Vietnam,
coughing from the back of a motorbike.
last I knew, you were heartbroken & hungry,
listening to your battered plastic radio.
last I knew, you were biking across the country,
wondering what happens afterwards.
last I knew, you found out he was
dating a woman in every state.
last I knew, you bought a car
as shiny as a candy apple.
last I knew, you were with her.
she looks nothing like me.
last I knew, you signed off.
I do not have your number.
last I knew, I knew nothing
about you. I like it that way.
day by day, I can’t stop thinking
about how you taste like vinegar.
I wake up in the middle
of the yellow night,
remember what it feels like
to turn
my back to you.
curl up so tightly
that you can’t wrap
your arms around me.
clench my fingers
into fists,
refuse to hold your hand.
the sea has such
colorful lungs.
I hear music inside
of music.
sail across this bed
with nothing but sheets.
your body is a last
sacrament
a way to see light
inside ritual.
an overwhelming
feeling of great
happiness or joyful excitement: see RAPTURE
a song
a song
a Czech film
an emotional or religious frenzy
or trancelike state,
originally one involving
an experience of MYSTIC
self-TRANSCENDENCE
a song
a song
a drug
illegal EUPHORIC
and HALLUCINATORY
effects standing outside
oneself.
a painting
a song
a trance
the ______ of loving him.
bliss. elation. transports.
rhapsodies. joy. jubilation.
exultation.
this is not __________. (MISERY)
a song
a collection of three novellas
a SONG
