Poems

cows just stare & sometimes lumber away otters, on the other hand have a lot of fun                -Bernadette Mayer cows find the palm with the right nut displace or interrupt it we didn’t grow those in Arkansas I had a friend once who knew how to tip we drank Maddog in the moonlight tripped with a flashlight up a dark mount just not only the right word but the proper balance one word plus slam the brakes my teeth hurt you put too much sauce in the punch stare when I was younger I had no sense of how long was too long in college I got a rise in the shower—guys often duplicated my efforts now I’m an ass for staring at one & once I wrote and wrote little shards of grass poked themselves out of dirt grew into glimmering fields of weeds sometimes steam lingers above the bathroom mirror I notice the ceiling a crack I never knew existed I can see only parts of myself in the mirror I watch some hairs fade to white a very cinematic moment like when the child’s blue balloon floats over the park it floats over Macy’s toward the Metreon where I saw Darth Vader last night lumber this cornerstone was donated to the town by Alonzo Cross before I was born he was my great-grandfather      and he ran this lumberyard away some twelve years ago I went to Montreal it seemed everyone there spoke French I went with a Francophone with whom I was enamored and from whom I learned the luxurious mystery of translation otters of which I don’t know much except for you and your pretty eyes in the hot tub on time sort of shuffles its deck I walk between bookstores eat ice cream drink coffee walk more read poems write one that makes more or less sense the I fall asleep on the leather couch listening to my favorite song in my dream I look up at the sky through the jasmine other it’s interesting how one word is what it means until you change one letter then it becomes something so different this could be metaphor take people for example I don’t really mean I am so very different from you we all have our names to differentiate us hand I remember we each measured our hands one against the other palm to palm all of us but I don’t remember why have I’m beaming today is gorgeous I just ran a mile and then I went for a long walk bought a couple new books had a spicy chicken salad listened to some music rescheduled a few meetings hopped on a bus and realized how beautiful today is a singularity depth perception my calendar is in my backpack it is 6:45 p.m. I write one poem per page which means I have more free time lot some people have cheeks that bounce when they walk this can be cute I wonder if my cheeks bounce when I walk some people have checks that of word association in my heart I have a gift warmer than blackberry cobbler fresh from yesterday’s oven I am so full of heart fun this weekend I had a lot of fun presently I am also enjoying myself this weekend I will have so much fun

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