January 31, 2019
Rituals
As a little kid I performed small rituals that I convinced myself contributed to preserving some balance within the universe.
For example: in my childhood home there is a banister that has a total of four knobs that are placed on top of each turn of the stairwell. I had convinced myself that I had to softly tap the top of each knob as I walked down the stairs and then blink my eyes at the moment of my light tapping.
January 30, 2019
Truth has no desire, expects nothing
Wish that was the way I could just be
Get so tired sometimes hungry
Some fire burning inside of me
A longing crier comes to confess everything
Thought somehow might set me free
A death so dire I could not plea
Some seconds shyer my eyes still see
Slow shots from higher show my blinding
Touch turned to pyre with every degree
Veins on a wire
Tightroped roots of a tree such is we
All my lies are true I swear on this earth,
January 22, 2019
DUTY.
SWEEPING THE KITCHEN FLOOR
ON SUNDAY MORNINGS
IS NOT MY DUTY.
MY TASK IS TO WASH MY CAR
EVERY FRIDAY
WITH A RED FOAM WASH GUN
DOWN AT THE PADDOCK.
IT TAKES TWO HOURS IN TOTAL
WHEN MY PHONE IS TURNED OFF.
ONE WEEKEND ROAD TRIP IN THE MOUNTAINS.
January 13, 2019
It’s September
I hang my bare feet
out the window
to feel the wind
rush through my toes.
Your jaw is set like Dick Tracy’s.
Your eyes squinched tight
as key slots.
I sense your spirit animal
is the holstered gun
beneath your armpit.
We’re halfway to nowhere,
Obetz, Ohio,
where you make me dig a grave
and bury the last mementos
of my past.