Saturday, April 18, 2020

hypotheocritical

if i could write caligraphy
it might make the way the night's
picking up look more inviting.
she's gone again, moving away
from the house and kids i mean it's not
like she tattooed them on her arm.
rustling like pandemonium
we want the poem to end soon
bury the symptom bound curfew
in the stories of her last psychosis.
it makes since, grampa dying,
the after party rape and reintroduction
to the drugs of youth is bound to take
a toll. but it doesn't have to be so ugly
if i could just use nicer penmanship.

Monday, April 06, 2020

saltine crackers

v2

saltines the night's a besenji's bark aching to voice the impossible- certainty of the stranger's entrance. stealth in numbers moves through the air, hijacks an amazon package maybe right onto the sofa next to you you can't know. certainty is, at best, fifty percent. so you have to live as if you have it even though you might not like a song you weren't taught as a child, the whole congregation sings so you sing. off key, try to match words with a melody you feel you should recognise but it trips you up you struggle along its convoluted path -like the river path to gramma's car at 3 a.m or the long ride on US92 to ybor city to pick up gramps at the station on his shift end . somewhere along the way there were hot donuts in winter haven,gramps waving from the caboose of the seaboard coastline a fishing pond and cane poles, seventh avenue in ybor and somehow at the end of a counter in the silver ring cafe there was my daddy and gramps sharing a plate of raw oysters . gramps bent foward with a slimy wet tongue looking thing on a saltine cracker. i squirmed backward on the leather seat stool, spun it round, grabbed the cafe con leche gramma said i was old enough to have spit out eeeee wwwwww it looks lke a fat worm! just put a little hot sauce on it gramps laughed you won't feel a thing. daddy laughed, the man behind the counter laughed, the man making the cuban laughed, the men at other tables laughed. i laughed. gramma looked sour said drink your coffee girl. i inhaled deeply, sipped. grabbed a two pack of saltines from the metal caddy on the booth. they felt like communion wafers stale and dry in my mouth.






v1


the night's a besenji's bark
aching to voice the impossible-
certainty of the stranger's entrance.

stealth in numbers moves through
the air, hijacks an amazon package
maybe right onto the sofa next to you
you can't know. certainty is, at best, fifty percent.

so you have to live as if you have it
even though you might not 
like a song you weren't taught
as a child, the whole congregation sings
so you sing. off key, try to match 
 words with a melody
you feel you should 
recognise but it trips
you up  you struggle along 
its convoluted path -convoluted 
as the path  that time
  gramma woke you at 3 a.m to 
take US92 to ybor city
to pick up gramps  at the station 
on his shift end . somewhere along
the way there were hot donuts
in winter haven,gramps waving from
the caboose of the seaboard coastline
a fishing pond and cane poles, the silver ring cafe

in ybor and somehow  there was my daddy
 and gramps sharing a plate
 of raw oysters .gramps 
bent foward with a slimy wet tounge
looking thing on a saltine cracker.
 i squirmed backward on the leather 
seat stool, spun it round,  grabbed
the cafe con leche gramma said i was old enough to have
said eeeee wwwwww it looks lke a fat worm!
 just put a little hot sauce on it
gramps said you won't
 feel a thing. daddy laughed, the man behind
the counter laughed, the man
making the cuban laughed, the men at other
tables laughed. i laughed. gramma looked sour
said drink your coffee girl. i inhaled deeply, sipped.
grabbed a two pack of saltines from the metal caddy
on the booth. ate them like communion wafers
stale and dry in my mouth.