A Better Use of Time and Possessions

A sparrow swam better than I assumed one could.
It beat a minnow to the bloated worm that had lost its pigment
somewhere between last night's first signs of rain
and my morning struggle to fit into unmarked family galoshes.
When I finished the book I was pretending to read
I dropped it into the water, because perhaps
if that sparrow can swim, he can read just as well.

madonna buying palmolive

i dreamed we saw madonna
comparing dish detergents
at the drugstore on washington street

her hair was an anemic shade of banana
long and spun like cloud candy
or fiberglass insulation

we were so excited! this was madonna,
queen of all that is holy, conical-breasted
goddess, a block from our house!
so alecia invited her over

and she did come over,
but she was kind of a bitch the whole time

(in my dream our bathroom had glass walls and a toaster
"you can make toast while you pee" we told madonna
--and what, we can watch? no wonder
she iced us. what the fuck, brain)

after she'd gone, i found her cell phone
forgotten on the coffee table
i read all her text messages out loud
and made fun of every one

i ridiculed each of madonna's text messages
in turn, mercilessly

Phonetree

The phone cords dangled from the branches
and I asked how likely it is for this to work.
"No dial tone, no dilemma," you shouted from
atop the ladder you borrowed from neighbors.
Now we just wait for the storm, amongst leaves
and white rubber coils. You had always said:
A juniper jumpstart should do the trick.

bordentown

put a loupe to your litany, auntie,
buckshot over the china shop: bull.
my hands itch to halve each titanium crutch
on the flaked knob of my grandfather's knee.

lizzie, you must be here somewhere,
licking your translucent cleaver.
the same gray cat warbles on all
the brown couches. blistered jesters
stalactite from the eaves.

A Holiday Jeremiad

Phlegm and men and oversized easychairs.
I'm stuck with it, but this time "it" has tangible repercussions.
Condemned to listen to the year inaccurately in review,
a sad clown's death rattle, and all there is to eat comes from
assembly line gift baskets when all I need is a cough represser.
Crummy peanut butter blossoms aren't doing the trick this year.

limerick: the viscosity of love

i'm the sort who'll mourn milk before i spill it,
assume a knocked cup will sour my skirt, and Goodwill it.
but it's happened too often: like the last blobs of oatmeal,
all that's nice in my life will grow cold, and congeal,
and leave me, gloved and grunting, to scour the skillet.

Kopi Luwak

At times I am as selective as a Luwak,
although, no, I do not prefer coffee beans
to mint tea leaves.

three haikus after kobayashi issa*

i played "never have i ever"
with a pickled monk from edo
in my friend's garage

he was all, "fruit flies
just want to make love, as does man
pulling radishes, natant waterfowl"

i remember when
all i wanted in the world
was a furby

*japanese poet and bodhisattva, 1763-1828. his nom de plume means "little cup of tea," which befits much of his work.

Concords for Keepsies

When we used grapes as makeshift marbles
you tried to prevent my streak of success
with elephant stomps that just turned
your collection into mush. I absentmindedly
popped my winnings into my mouth
before we tallied the scores. Tasted better
than the agate I was used to. Oh,
or is that the goal in this variation?

at the wet xmas party

we played "never have i ever"; there was a dog in a santa suit and, in the morning, yellow snow

i no longer feel validated by taking a sip of beer when someone says "never have i ever licked or eaten food items out of my partner's belly button during sex"

this kid with an earring kept trying to high-five me and i was like dude what am i doing with my life, i can't put that on a résumé

Contentment

Adults sledding at midnight--
the same way children sled at four.
It's in the relative minority of things;
such a sight never fails to leave me happy,
hopeful, and not much else.

Granulated snow blown from rooftops
meets those standards too.
And not only that,
it's a surefire way to make me say,
"All right.
This is it.
Right here."

at the dry xmas party

i floated little boats on a salsa sea, no trace
of spice. i stood by the pool table, avoiding
your glance. it's not like i need a drink to get
my guard down. it's just i'm stuck between
an era when i'd exist here without thinking,
if i ever have actually done that, if i've ever been
at ease-- and the next realm, adulthood, all
grated ginger and charmeuse, cinnamon, glamour,
volition, real life, just waiting for time
to unstick me.

Louisburg Square

Saddleshoes on cobblestone.
I would rather time travel
than take the easy way home.

fish your wish

"i'm gettin my drank on,"
she says to her reflection,
aubergine in a plastic stein.
sprinkled cork gives her hologram
infrared freckles, the splendid kinetics
of snowfall.

'Til Next Semester 1103

For the love of latkes,

hardening my heart with

holiday spirit. Heaven help

the chosen ones for 

resistance is futile. 

self-portrait on SSRIs

today i am okay with the breadth and slope
of my torso. in fact, part of me wants to strip down

buck nude and loop strings of christmas
lights around my limbs.

each shoulder a beacon, i'll stand
at the window, turn a lackadaisy

rotation. throat hollows glinting gossamer sugar,
some newfangled confection.

Ughs

When your hallway shoe deposit
becomes a wall encasing, a suede barrier
against my door, I could say, "Well,
it's not so bad."

Instead, when it happened,
it finally happened, I said to one pair
through the peephole, "You're tacky
and I won't stand for this anymore."

jeremy's tapeworm

i want to feed you exotic fruits, the color
of tigers in late autumn light

because you are my friend

standing there in your pilgrim shoes,
pigeon-toed, mouthing the words
"i could be from mars"

What Sets Us Apart

After walking in the flood, I'd rather
shower than shake. I do remember
a time when that was not the case.

shmarcadia

tweeze me infinitesimally
from the seams of your tortoiseshell glasses.
carnal love, quail and peacock:
i've heard of no equivocal sphere
to iterate how we got here,
humpbacked and hubbled,
to bisect each pearl into porridge
and orbs of blue jam.

Evolution

When the streets flooded you said, "Well! 

Now we'll have to evolve." I hoped for gray 

scales on my merman tail. You hoped for green.