Strangers with Appreciation

IN BOUNDLESS EXPANSE
BETWEEN JOB AND SILENCE
NOSTALGIA AND THE EVER-
LIVING PRESENT I SIT IN FRONT
OF A PROJECTOR SCREEN
COOLED BY THE WINDOW
UNIT I CAN DERIVE NO
MORE MEANING TO VIDEO
GAMES NO
                               it is the purpose of a stranger to dream
                               for me to be engaged so in his fever
                               your creativity is what I want
                               now that I don’t have the rapturous
                               privilege of losing myself
               but haven’t I
          wrestled with every single
whim every whistle
   of the wind that calls for me
I answer
                               for a little while then reach then
                        ASK NO QUESTIONS
                        FOR ANSWERS I COULD NEVER KNOW
                        THE MEANING OF THE STARS NOR
MY PLACE WITHIN MY BRAIN WHERE
                        THE SOUL SITS
                 it’s sick sometimes in
                 how I want to be someone else???
                 but I look at old pictures of myself
                 and think he’d be so happy to see
                 how unrecognizable he is to himself

(originally published in confetti, Fall 2023)

Milgate Bathroom

When you can’t leave for the forest–
bloomed flower petals on white tile
by the toilet rug. Black comb bleach
cleaner. A tendril reaches from water
glass, vine lights looming. What for
but pale wall? Crystal window. Self-
haircut grass. Small room. Small
ambition. I track my movements.
My hunter is somewhere, hiding.

(originally published in Sybil Journal, Summer 2023)

Serious

Vodkas ignite a serious conversation we sing cacophony
our mouths open machinery in the room whirs the gears
clank and then the whole dark bar lifts its legs and flies
                                                                                no windows though
we perceive sudden shifts as turbulence impending
storms we move as far from as we can talk about

(originally published by Mad Swirl, Winter 2022)

Zone 28

Tara, the arcade was not the answer
(air hockey shots & bowling)   such
fantastical surrendering     with hollow
hunger     & the terrapin match /
between dinosaurs Maureen was
drunk & screaming. typical
punch bowl.    red & strung
with lights I lied about my blue
ice I said     I did not have enough
but I drove to Taco Bell next door
& ate five soft ones     texted
you I made it (though I live somewhere
different now)    home    if I move
how will the wind know
the difference?

(originally published in DREICH, Fall 2023)

Décor

Our photos hang
on nails. Crucifixion.
Quiet, now, white
walls. I know
our distance
vast (Arizona’s
lizard days,
stretched).
The sand
in my eyes.
The wind.
Violent blindness–
everyone
cannot see past
this zoo.
Kill all
the animals before
God does.
I live to
love and you love
my diatribes.
Asinine
commitment, an
x-ray into
robbery. My
body. Your
house.

(originally published in Statement Magazine, Spring 2023)

Look for Me, Someday, in a Sentimental Ad

I dive into a fresh pool of shining glass–
who wants to spend their years with me?

The new-city-me screams its lungs out for
you. Looking to the past, I fall in love

again. I’ll be promiscuous when
unemployed. I can’t face life

pursuing absolute perfection. Maybe
I will soften my hair, finally. My cat

may not be into this. We lay sideways
in a beam of sun on dust-layered carpet,

moving our eyes to the wall’s tricks of light.

(originally published in Count Seeds With Me [Ethel Zine and Micro-Press], Spring 2022)

By the Power Vested in Me by the State of Sadness

sometimes at night
I bless my own heart
like I have authority
to give the balloon
floats away it is
hallucinatory thus
I greet a little tiger
toiling in the jungle
of the cupboards
oh what a pantry
we could have if we
could hold a job
in which we held
each other close
tying the knot
with teeth
in a stalk
of grass or
the celery
we snap
its little
green
heart

(originally published in Chronogram, Spring 2023)