You say I say

You say the world is empty.

No. The world is filled

with anything but emptiness

trees hills mud bushes branches weeds puddles rocks pebbles sand cars ants flowers hats gloves

don’t you see that stuff?

Sure nobody gets out alive but remember, also-

nobody runs straight the whole time.

Prague

Between turrets, below barrels,
beet stained and slipping on the cobble slick,
maw warped by tonguing of ham hock strands
caught where the gum recedes.

Swamped by the lexicon
of number plates,
oh we're dripping with details,
and supposed to think that
only here emerges
starch from soft leather bounds.

Stapled domino topplers,
handed over,
scrunched into houndstooth pockets,
we suppose.

Mining

There was a throw up taste in my mouth and
A sort of self-loathing that didn't know
If it was put on or not
Swimming in my bloodstream when
The man,
Short and bald I think,
Gave me two dozen roses
Then let me be
On a train headed north.
Back then it was the roses,
Which I later hung all around my dorm room
And kept for many years later,
That made me swell and drift in dreams,
But now it is the fact he wanted nothing from me in return
That feels most remarkable.

ENDLESS

Against the composed salad
and the sidebar songs
and the combing of everything
there is some salve
in drone
not the mosquito toy
stuck in a post Christmas tree
but the pain howl
of a noise returned
long drawn blush
trailing good
blood

poem #10

it's way past my bedtime but
I saw a play tonight
and it was like real life
moments so similar to my own experiences
with family
and a boyfriend who always wants to talk about his dreams
and people always asking about his age
and parents worrying about anything not worth worrying about
and my dad not understanding so much about my life
"why don't you move to the country?"
"what's so great about this shithole of a city?"
"i just want you to date a cowboy and live on a ranch"
and "how many horses will you give me for my daughter"
and "i voted for Trump" because "i hate Hillary more"
and I feel like we're not really living when we're together
it's more like we're going through the motions
and maybe sometimes that's okay with me