I’ll Carry With Me

Ever-lovin’ paw print
Ribbon rings around yr waist
Tiny plastic alien
Yellow cat, brown bear
Quilt heart, gold frame
Straw suitcase, and always

That picture of myself.

-----

What Prayer Beads

Long hair and
All my secrets
The wisdom of kids
Those same tendencies
Towards home.

-----

January

These are work poems
They collide
Night after night
That’s all it is
To be born again.

go on

to think about the room for everything that's coming
leaves space for this
to be only this

THIRTEEN

Jamie told Susan to tell Amanda that I liked her
so we were going out, walking next to each other wordlessly in gym class
and then after awhile, just as silently, we broke up

friday night

the funniest thing that happened all night was when Omar was waddling around the room his jaw hanging down and then took a seat to talk to the dog
then Jordan was yelling and hitting things in a heated discussion with himself
Kent held his stomach in pain as we laughed
i slid onto the floor in giggles and tears when the door bell rang
Jordan ran over to answer it but slipped on my shoe and fell down
three more walked in and Bruce yelled what the hell are you doing on the floor
a few minutes passed when Jason lost his balance and tumbled backwards towards the crowd but caught himself on Lia's crouch and regained his footing with the ground
when it rains it pours
Mandy told me
if only they could see us now.

sprout legumebean, socks get lost in the laundry one at a time

and if it's lucky
the second one is lost someday too
but more often it just hangs around
the last one left in the drawer on laundry day
waiting for its argyle mate to come back

occasionally
in a rare ecstasy
it is matched up with an entirely different second sock
a wildflower pink
a rainbow stripe
or one with brilliant yellow ducks

it will be with you a long time
a long time
waiting in the drawer
or pulled out and warming one foot
your choice.

still

it's still with me
it's still with me
it's still with me
when won't it be?