Sundown

Ink grease pronunciations of names in the flesh

Seven dances seen backwards by Monsieur 

Alzheimer's is a hangnail dragging across the lacework of his mind

Framed photos make him frantic as the dance continues to rewind

Questions fly like dirty feathers as the once tight clock begins to unwind

Heaven only knows why weeks begin to feel like years

Napalm memories pack a punch in the gut

Like walking in wooden shoes with roots growing from the soles 

Holding him prisoner of this earth

Defenseless, he opens his beak like a baby bird

While the moon pours poison down his throat

Bleach is sprayed across a painting that took 74 years to create

The beauty's been washed away

The canvas left blank

The scarlet drapes are drawn 

But he's still waiting in the wings

Mistro promised him two more dances

Two more chances

To make good by the ink grease pronunciations of names from his flesh

As the music continues to rewind

The gears unwind

And that damned hangnail drags naggingly across his mind

Monsieur grabs paper and pen

Writing a note to the audience that reminds

The clock of life is wound but one time 

Newspaper Sonnets

I.

Angry birds up in the air

I bite my freshly manicured nails

Hoping this audience is above the curve

Are you normal?

Compared to what?

If you want to meet a real woman

Call 646.429.1301 tonight

Shit this audience better be above the curve

Or at least have their high school diploma

From the computer 

Stomach drops to bowls

I bight my freshly manicured nails

If they are looking for normal

There's going to be angry birds up in the air tonight.

II.

They got off the subway a stop early

what a couple of complete hacks

I now feel accomplished 

because I know NY transit

though I'll never own a 

waterfront promenade

with a refurbished modern lobby

and 24 hour doorman

but I don't need a doorman

I didn't get off the subway a stop early

the add says there's smokers needed for a research study

I don't smoke

but I wonder how much they pay

because maybe it's enough for the waterfront promenade

Summer's Golden Cider Wine Tasting

I.

Step off the L train

Cross 14th to Union Square

Farmer's Market in the park

People are swarming like bees

On this 90 degree Wednesday

II.

Shopping List not limited to:

blueberries, broccoli, duck eggs, mint,

trinidad seasoning, pepper-plant leaves,

ice cream, shell peas, salt,

and a handful of daisies. 

III.

Preserving tradition and raising expectations 

Hot Bread Kitchen, ciabatta, lavash,

Mom's Nutty Granola, NY grains,

handmade corn tortillas, asparagus lavash.

Good weather for rising dough.

IV.

Homegrown Berkshire Berries, Becket, Massachusetts 

James and Chutney, Garlicraspberry jelly

Milport Dairy, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 

free-range eggs, arcadian pastures

try our raw milk cheese

TOXIC

You are a hungry skinless skull
Biting on the books in my mind
Drooling all over the words
And tearing my precious pages with your rotten teeth

I saw the picture of you two in our bed
Proof it was unrequited love
Can't get the image out of my head

You are a red eyed rat
Sniffing out the sonnets in my heart
Memorizing the lines
And reciting them to other mice with your rabic tongue

When I begged you for the truth you said
"Baby I swear you're the only one"
But I saw the picture of you two in our bed

You are a cluster of malignant cells
Invading the rhythm in my veins
Metastasizing the beat in my bones
And detonating the dance in my feet while making yourself virulent 

You said that red bra was a friend of a friend's friend
I was fooled by the tangled web you spun
Can't get the image out of my head

You are a venomous snake
Trying to procreate with my passion
Thinking the act will yield an original thought
Poisoning me with your lies, did you get what you sought?

I was too blind to believe there was a means to your end
You sucked me dry and left me for dead
What you did can't be undone
I saw the picture of you two in our bed
Can't get the image out of my head

Tricks are for Kids

Today, more than ever, you should try to trick me into thinking that everything is the same,
Because I need something to hold onto.
I'm being jolted on the subway and I can't reach the railing.
The metal doors yawn open and clamp close like teeth and there's never enough time to get between them.

How are we to avoid that imaginative failure which presents alien modes of thought?
When the day to day becomes a science fiction film,
Where the invasion of my future plans is the plot.
I've been lying under the stars like a schizophrenic in Roswell hoping to see a UFO that will point me in the right direction.

Did you bring the tape recorder?
Because I think I really might be getting to something.
By something I mean a point worth pointing out.
I told you to try to trick me today, more than ever,
Because I need to feel that everything is the same.

You raise your face and blink incredulously at me.
Play pretend like everything is cherry.
Act like I'm unaware that instead of holding me at night you've been sneaking off to the kitchen,
Eating leftovers in the refrigerator's dim light.

I remember when we scrambled from the authorities down to Plaster Creek,
And never got caught.
That's when you loved every atom of my being,
Even my fat knees,
Which buckle over the cap.
I thought it was crazy but you used to say you loved that.

Mom starts crying again and she looks away.
Dad looks at me.
They are worried about tomorrow. 
A tomorrow they thoughtfully outlined when I was an alien in an alien womb.
I can't tell them face to face but their version of tomorrow is a tomb and their outline is my epigraph.

Appreciating what you have and not feeling wistful about what you don't have,
Is a concept I was never taught,
Which is why,
Today more than ever,
You should try to trick me into thinking that everything is the same.

Bricks

Red ruffles on her dress
she is blonde and being photographed
she spins in circles like no on is watching
but everyone is watching.


Tickle-me-elmo is making the baby laugh
he is laughing so loudly 
like no one is listening 
but everyone is listening.


Red hand says not to cross the street
the man walks across anyway
like there are no consequences
but there are consequences.


STOP. DANGER. NO TRESPASSING. 
KEEP OUT. FIRE. NO SMOKING. 
ALARM. SIRENS. WARNING.


Not me, I never reveled in red.
I've always read the sings
and abided.


Your eyes were bloodshot from crying all night
tired of living behind the brick wall I built between us.


I was too scared to let you see my cheeks blush when you touched my hand
too scared to let you hear the beat of my heart when your head laid on my chest
too scared to let you taste my tongue when you kissed my lips.


I read all the signs 
and abided
so now I'm standing alone behind the brick wall that I built.


Too scared that everyone is watching
or listening 
too scared of the consequences.


I'm not like the spinning girl
or laughing baby
or jay-walking man.


I read all the signs
and abided
so now I'm standing alone behind the brick wall that I built. 

Amadi

My hair is long
brass and bronze
the creases around my smile are soapstone carvings
they allude that I've known laughter
and therefor wisdom
tera-cotta
the pieces start to crumble
stone
some pieces will always remain
I am old
and thus powerful
through my mask I can read your soul.

Portion of a Mask

I'm looking towards the left
my mouth is open
but there's no words.


I'm looking towards the left
my lips feel bulbous 
I can't move them.


I'm looking towards the left
hoping you'll forget 
what I haven't told you yet. 

Buffalo Head

Three layers on my horns,
each protecting me from you,
protection is important.


I cast my eyes towards the carpet, 
my nose is flared,
I'm smelling your intentions,
they smell intense.


I cast my eyes towards the carpet, 
three layers on my horns,
Terra-cotta Taurus. 

"Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement"

Ambivalence is difficult
when I can feel my ears burning red.


Nonchalance is a struggle
as sweat accumulates and drips from the hollows of my palms
which are cupped above my tightly clasped fingers
adorned with emerald, ruby, and gold. 


All I see is bronze, black, red,
and flesh.


Soft green, pale blue,
in the distance.


More curved lines than straight,
want him to hold me,
but he's only here to help me,
and I can feel them watching.

14th Street

The man outside is selling fruit
the fruit looks old
like it fell off the truck


He is Mexican
but the summer sun has made him even darker
what does that mean?
nothing


The blood red orange has made me darker too
even at sunset
I want to tell him I'm Mexican too


Escalante
my last name
cause for concern
I'm blonde with blue eyes
It's confusing


Adoption
more confusing


Shake my head
right, left
right, left again but faster


Continue walking
I pass by stairs that go 
down


They lead to a pipe that can shoot you somewhere faster
than my converse can take me


A hot hand shakes me
Realize I've stopped walking
he's asking for spare change


But I'm looking at his nose
its so sunburnt and bumpy
he has no sunscreen
he never has


I've always had sunscreen
but never used it
despite what my mom always warned
she said without it I'd get wrinkly
and looking at his nose
I finally understand