Dad partied too hard at the Disco last night
Straining in calico perched on the toilet
We'll keep at it, and see what comes
The dawn
And another one

wholesale

me,                                          or,

the wacky waving                   the Great Value brand single celled organism      

arm inflatable tubeman           that crawled out of  a puddle of piss and Dr. Thunder

attached to the muffler            in a Walmart parking lot.

of the General Lee.                  me?

or me,                                    or me,                                     or me,
at my friends' cover               becoming one with                finally giving in
band and they are                  the hum of fluorescent           and embracing
singing things that                 lighting that coats the            the vinyl wall decals
are very relatable                   walls of this office that          that read, "Faith, Family,
to this demographic               that I am signing a lease        Friends," as Truth, and me
that I find myself in.              in and deciding to live.          admitting to snobbery.

My final words will be, "How unoriginal."
And I am beginning to think that's wonderful.

eloise

she went barefoot

into the restaurant and I

thought,’ At last, someone

I can bring home to meet

my family.’

Empathy is Easy

i was bullied for being an ally
he said
my student
and he stared at me
as we both tried not to cry
hoping he wasn’t looking to me for strength
maybe just knowing he couldn’t look at his mom
already crying
and i realized
me too,
at the lunch table
i told him later with a hug
after we all cried
and laughed about crying

Glassy Pavement

Ice expanding through the concrete pores, and the streets too,
and my eyeballs, I think of the amount of time it takes
for the image to build and register, detached from the retina,
seeing that the street lamps are pulling even further and
perhaps they are spewing from me as with the thoroughfare
of the ferry back from Calais after tripping all night in Holland,
the ferry stretching out of me as if I were my own travelator,
stretching out pulling my future from me egg strands stretching out
the bounds of the bow my future from me, me and the ferry stretching
out beyond me, out of me, made of me, no thought of the
dismal stock of celery green that floats the ferry,
my viscous steps, shoved back and forth hydraulically.

ONTARIO STREET

Thank You For Doing Your Laundry

With Us,  Please Come Again.

Soap bleach softeners 75 cents.

Red/silver garland around the column.

Green garland around the white picket fence.

Smile 😀 you’re on camera. 18 minutes now.

Crime & Drugs Tip Line 233 2161.

Your cooperation is appreciated. Ms. Pacman.

American Meditation Institute: A powerful decision holds us captive.

Read about the remedy starting on page six.

9 screens in the monitor camera and 3 have

VIDEO LOSS. Soap, bleach, softeners.

Pushing stop will end cycle.

Start up will require full price to start.

Snow village Xmas scene in the window display.

Now its 9:08. Folding counter.

If anyone comes in, I’m writing grocery lists.

Island Liquors across the street.

Open 7 days a week. (t – 06 minutes).

To a Parrot

A friend once wrote beautifully, perfectly,
something that said, basically: in the winter,
the world is an open vessel, waiting
for a swath of snow to settle
on its lips, in its belly.
Waiting for moisture,
something soft, to dull
harsh, brittle sharpness.
The branches crack and wait.
The ground hardens to clay, waits.
At night, the sidewalks freeze and wait.

A parrot perched on my mailbox
the other morning and cocked
his head toward the mountain
in the distance, saying, "Stories
are like snow, they're all just
drying up." My curtains yellowed
another shade and moved
on their hangings because I'd
left the door wide open to see
this parrot prophet.

Far from the jungle, in the driest
place I've known, he started a new
life. Ghosts of rainforest songs
fell on his feathers as both twirled
to the lawn. Long, thin raindrops of rainbows,
they splashed their lushness onto brown
matted grass. A shade of cerulean blue
loosened itself from his beak and streamed
onto the walkway. I fed him grapes
and orange juice with water.

The night he left I cried for hours,
couldn't tell when the sun had
started rising, but then it was up
with an unassuming gray, dull light.
I ached for the flash of bright
sitting on my stoop, but I stepped
outside and instead saw the world
had finally been sated
with thick slabs of snow and I knelt
in the wetness and cupped my hands
around the glittering memories
and bent my head and drank it all.