We Never Even Liked Each Other

Squash creeps

Wet soil stays cold

Big leaves fill in

Pumpkins spill out onto the streets

We are so odd we display fruit for one another

On stoops and sidewalk -shelves

Tall ones

Fat ones

Hallowed and backlit

Nick-nacks and trinkets

Costumed

We pretend to be spring

Winter sneaks in

Melts and freezes

You

Melt and freeze

We push away from each other

Sugarless leaves

Useless limbs

Dry Sapless trees

frozen on the runway

 
i remember the nor’easter of 1984
i was 4  and we couldn’t open our front door

i remember 93’ east coast closed
la guardia- never opened

like today

we should have all stay inside

wait for snow

gather things up
get things ready

groceries in a cart

bottled water - coffee

things that make things work

batteries

booked matches

kerosene or something to burn
something to keep us warm

we stockpile dog food cat food comfort food

salted sand  

when we wait for snow 

we become the groceries

we become the stranded cars

the dirty snow piles

the iced airplane wings

when we wait for snow
we’re waiting to be pick up

changed into something exciting

something different new

something clean

something to make due of us
of our scraps of weather
of our altitude
of our wet moneyless pockets

a snow day
a dead battery
and a single mitten can make an exquisite dish
old can goods dried fruits
not opening the fridge or the front door

something new something exciting

like you

now you are the snow coming down outside my clammy window

the very first flake i have ever seen

far from a stranded car
a snow pile 
an iced air plane wing
instead

you are a new beginning 

a new season

a new food

a new battery

on an old street where where i saw my first real snowstorm

I Want to Hide My Vagina

I want to hide my vagina

When I look for women and see only

Shoes and purses

Decorations and things

Close up of wedding rings

Say yes to that dress

Knee highs and nudity

Nancy Kissinger eternal fashion week

Childlike lean

A perfect body lanky and neat

A bed made and re-made

Slept in until the mattress is too thin

jesus freaks

before she was born again

she was a beautiful baby

i remember her in the  hospital

pink

soft

new

she never towels off

just air dries

even in winter she wears sandals

rarely shaves even knee high

last spring

she met someone

he took her on a wild trip

to God

to Kansas

to preaching the street

carrying  the sword

she gave Jesus freak a beat

me

i haven’t seen pink and beautiful since

on the day i was born

i hoped to be born again
morning snow sifted

sand

a freshly plowed road

i hoped for rain

 mothers fix cake light candles
 little gifts

fathers fix elaborate ones

i hoped for fifty-more

more candles
more cakes
more years
time

for creased and crinkled
yellowed newspaper crumpled

skin

inked  
my life the opinion section  

bold
italicized

someones read on the toilet

  a cab
  a diner
  the library

december roll around and around

again and again
a small dog begging for attention

Hidden Acres

There are places

Rebuilt and Rebuilt

On new old fashions

On felt

Where men are spoiled boys

A farm the playpen

Number 53’s

A yellow bicycle 

Oysters are appetizers

Bread is pudding

Thanksgiving is thanking

Shops unattended

Knitting

Lady yarn

Everyone knows you are unstable

I see what the seacoast can do 

You go as a stranger

Company  

Familiar as family

Once a snowbird

Now you never leave

Throng together

Llamas in packs

Regal and safe

Chores 7am 3pm

Consistency

Uniformity

There are places in Maine with

Reliability

Full fire

Full feeders

There are places in Maine with

Clarity

My Father at St. Vincent’s

blue lights beeping

tubes an old women sleeping

slide man hands neck to fret

finger follow finger up and down

musical stairs

E : christmas morning 1982 

D: chest pains cheap cocaine

A: yesterday

after all these years

you finally sang me silly

Check Up

my last appointment

was glove-less

spine tight

neck tight ass

my johnny

lingerie on the floor

even  STOOL SOFTENER sounded sexy 

better than  mineral oil

latex 

ANTI- BI- OTICS

A New Season

While squash creeps

Wet soil stays cold

Big leaves fill in

Pumpkins spill out onto the streets

We display fruit for one another

On stoops and sidewalk shelves

Tall ones

Fat ones

Hallowed and backlit

Nick-nacks and trinkets

Costumed too fool you

I pretend to be spring

Winter sneaks in

Melts and freezes

Melts and freezes

We push away from each other

Sugar gone from our leaves

Useless limbs

Sapless trees  

i thought about you when I magnified the moon

through that little hole

i watched acres of pristine country side

an orange grove of celestial fruits

a mountain range of ripe mango

patches of premature pineapple 

amidst little rivers thousands of intermittent coffee bean trees

i wait for a my own garden to grow

i water it only after sunset

on the night when the well was low

i held off

faced toward the sky waiting for rain

in amazement a car drives by

on a rim of the moon

the balding tire of earth spinning in its wheel well

it blows donuts the size of europa

“Jesus what is that crazy fucker doing”

i try to see the driver

without the telescope i made nothing out

not one rain cloud

not one whisker

so when you pulled up next to my giant pumpkins

the weaning wax beans and extraordinary chocolate peppers

rolled down the window and said

“hey Gladis you got a tail like out “

i was in awe

quick witted astounded by trickery

i never let anyone else drive this thing

where did you come from

how did you get my car

you got out of the drivers seat in retort

“i am the rum runner of the milky way 
i supply the entire spiral galaxy”

you kneel gently but directly oblivious atop my ever blooming strawberries

i wince and you hand me the keys

i mostly remember you lying down

you walked like limp eggplants

stepping mushy and soft

slow up stairs

sullenly singing 

atop resting head on a shoulder

13 stairs turned swollen pumpkin face purple

you don’t take consideration for neatness
or cleanliness

i am no perfectionist

but the smell started to get to me

i am no savant

but i know a maladjusted pariah when i see one

you never wanted fresh air or exercise

never made eye contact

or wiped your face

you left mismatched dirty socks

in the cushions

on the table

under the sheets at the bottom of the bed

your cankles made your socks frumpy

everything about you was frumpy

your lips were frumpy

kissing you was higgledy-piggledy

because you never took much consideration

for a kiss

for a moment

for a girl

fat scaly elbows earthed in sofa

you sleep messy dead leaves in the middle of the day

a bulky rustling heap

a snore rose from the pile

the dog jumped you didn’t

you just lied there

and lied there and lied there

yellow flower פרח צהוב

you tobacco grown slow in a sultry summer

every broad leaf steady and soft

i harvest the best parts of you

one by one only in full sun

love hangs so close i breath sticky

dry brown skin with pink poke a dots

i kiss every spot

you burdock scuff and exotic

hitchhiker i knew you were fruit

flavor burst through the supple parts of you

edible down to the root

i will never dye you orange or anything close

purple is my new favorite color

you the brilliant yellow flower in the lackluster of my life

a squash blossom so quick to open

sweet and tender

may you never close