the doe

I ignore the rusted drum,
sit by the water,
and flip the Riverside open.
When my eyes begin to hurt -

I go for a Walk,
down a path twisted in vine,
find the tuffs before I find the bones.
Ivory licked clean months after -

She lay down to die alone,
the Portal of her eye,
open to the thumbnail moon.
In the cavity of her skull -

I am not afraid of the wolves,
nor these bones alone,
but the rusted drum at my back
Terrifies me.

Retraction

My mistake;
your Heart
is not to be printed
on the office supply of
Boca Standard Stock.
Much the same way
my Body
is not the weary traveller's
Rest Stop.

Lock Up

the best of my day
is the build up, the break down
and how the space breathes.

Camp 420

I have a picture of us.
I don't remember
how it wound up
on my computer,
when I scanned it in,
or who took it.

But it was taken before
we got stoned
out of our minds.

Just you and me
on the bank of the river,
side by side.

I am holding an American Flag,
wearing boy shorts and a tee,
braids down my back.

Today I remembered how,
behind the tarps
we rigged up to hide
families and their
kids from us kids
doing everything kids
do, but never supposed to,

You tried to climb a tree
out over that same bank
and fell face first
into the river.

And how you refused
to leave that bank,
instead danced with
the same American Flag
that someone,
I don't remember who,
handed you
between hits,
and how
you sang to
yourself,
and danced
for

Eight Hours

until you dried.

Pucker Up

Pucker up Mae West,
there’s something in the water.

Oil on the surface
beautiful in its separateness,
deadly in its own right.

Covering the surface,
oil is always one to reflect the light.

Pucker up Mae West
there’s something under my skin.

Relentless as probing fingers
pushing
driving
me
to become
the oil,
to reflect the light
and to … sep - a - rate.

Pucker up Mae West
I’m the one to watch.

With just one,
simple promise -
I am the oil
deadly in my own right.

Discrete, all-knowing,
guilty in my
reflection

of light.

So, pucker up Mae West.
You fooled them once,
I can do it twice.
Pucker up.
Pucker up.

Kiss your legend

while I kiss my soul

Goodbye