You’re going to have it all
but not today, Taurus.
The swarming suits
will suffocate you;
love won’t feel like it exists.
This trend will grind you
down to bones but you
will bounce out of bed
tomorrow to grind
at work. Open your mouth
a little more than usual
to let more air
into your life.
(originally published in The Brasilia Review, Spring 2020)
My horoscope this morning:
You will swallow your pride
to give in to someone else
today, Taurus.
Take a brisk walk
and concentrate on reasons
for obedience.
The stars led me here.
I intended to quit
my job this morning
and found three chickens
in celestial alignment
wandering out
my door.
How wonderful
it would be to walk
and walk out
of town
to wherever the path
ends. Over the ledge
into the greenery
to live off the land
where I would
lay in the grass
and stare into
the night sky
and say
you can’t tell
me what to do.
Light years away
from my current
life. To break
the alignment
of monotonous days
squawking
order
when I want
to be jazz.
A roost of stars
conspiring
light to lead
me back but I’ve
thought and
thought
to find
no good reason.
(originally published in Good Works Review, Winter 2020)
Expect your love life
to take a dramatic turn
for the better, Taurus.
Consider power steering:
without it, those daunting
curves down the Pacific Coast
can lead to rock wall
or fence or ocean.
When you drove to Philadelphia
without power steering
for the Black Swan premiere,
you didn’t trust your friends
to steer your Taurus. When
you sold it, the red-faced
salesman strained a sweat
steering it mere meters
into wide-open lot.
He asked how do you drive
this dangerous piece of shit?
You answered I am more self-
confident than I have been
in a long time. Today, you
charged down the staircase
wearing a pink polo your
romantic partner said she
wanted to punch you in
the face for. It’s no wonder
she reacts to you
in a positive way when you
change. Make the most of this
opportunity. Walk dirt
roads drunk on Hennessy
with the movement of stars.
(originally published in Construction, Spring 2018)
So, so many projects to complete
before the deadline, Taurus!
How is your pressure? Blood?
Tire? Determination will drive you
to your office parking lot, and there,
in circles, you’ll run out of gas.
(originally published in Califragile, Fall 2017)
You generally enjoy your dreams, Taurus,
but not this last one in which your lover
invites her Iowan ex to your house
and they wear your jeans while
you yell at cabinets of lipstick. There
are layers of red on each wall’s face
and you run outside after her
Honda yelling at its exhaust
along cornfields of mid-America.
Meanwhile, in real life, you
two have yet to get in a fight.
Maybe you should do that soon.
(originally published in Yes, Poetry, 2017)