Marry me todayand bathe this momentin golden hope promise that you cannot live without mejust as my heartknows this truthfor me light our unity candle with your adoring gaze let us embraceexchanging whispersas we sway to a songthat only we hear and when we’re apart walk through your daywistfully awarethat you are incomplete and meet me back here at this spotand speed my pulseand gladden my soul just say yesand forever starts right here marry me todayand e...

As elusive as the mystery of that rattling sound under the hoodof my ’79 Aspenis poetry. Auto mechanicslike poetssee how everything should fitand can discern a perfect specimenimmediately but I’ve no formal schoolingin anything artistic. I tried writing poemsplaysessaysand jokesfailingin predictableunremarkable waysas the self-taught often do. This all startedas a way to soothemy lifelong sadness. I made myself little toys to amuse myselfand take mesomewhere ...

Skid Marks My compulsionas I drive on the highwayis watching the black skid markson the road ahead of me. I fight the absent-minded impulseto follow their aberrant trajectory. Hypnotizedmy eyes followtheir smooth arcsand abrupt sooty endsand I wonder what was what the driver was thinkingjust before it happened. Some trail off the roadin tight, unpredictable curveswhile others fade gracefullysuggesting a narrow escape and some lead nihilistically willfullyinto cement wall...

Don’t oversleepdon’t curse the alarm clockdon’t wake up the others don’t go to work without shavingdon’t wear that tie with those pantsdon’t leave without kissing her goodbye don’t drive like a maniacdon’t get in an accidentdon’t be late to the office don’t be unproductivedon’t go to non-work-related websitesdon’t daydream about sex don’t skip lunchdon’t eat any trans fatsdon’t talk to a...

Strolling throughthe church courtyardI passed the purple flowers and suddenly a host of butterflies appeared and swirled about mein mad abandon. This floating laurelof fluttering wingssurrounded meand became my retinue. As I walked among themI heard them singing: “Glory to God on high!King David has returned to us!” I did nothingto dispel their myth as I stepped into my carand drove away.

 Hundreds of poetry websites
thousands of poets
millions of poems.I send up mine
and hope it will not be lost
in the cyber-abyss
but I know better.My smoke sculpture soul
and precious imagery
are superfluous and temporalas inconsequential
as the confetti
trampled and left for deadin Times Square
on New Year’s Day
at 6:07 a.m. 

It feels quicker than a blink
since I first saw you
and took you to raise up
as my very own.
Through laughter, patience
scrapes and tenderness,
I readied you for
a cold and undeserving world.

Through the seasons
you blossomed
and the world became
resplendent with possibility
when seen through your
naive and limitless vision.
I knew the world
would sing your song
once you taught them.

You asked if I was ready
and I snapped awake
from my reverie.
With a weak, sincere sm...

Somewhere else
is what I want

but right here
is all I'm gonna get

and all I need
according to God.

So I'll walk through it
without booze
or pills
or illicit thrills.

You walked through
this howling madhouse
of no escape
and let them
nail you to the cross
where you died for me.

You're just a
big show-off
Jesus.

You suffered for me.

I pray I can
return the favor.

1986: Darra

Wet Thursday morning.
My senior year of college;
we didn't use protection
so we were fixing the problem,
The nurse called for her,
I waited
pretending to study.
She returned
forcing a reassuring smile.
As she got in the car
she vomited
before we sped away.


1988: Stacia

Bright Saturday afternoon.
Tomorrow I'd be introduced
to her family
but I didn't love her
(even though I said I did
so I could sleep with her).
We met at the park
I told her there was ...

Feeling like a cockroach
that even God pitied
I went to her street.

I knew she’d be there
and she surprised me
by giggling
“you looking for me baby?”

My blush convicted me.
Giving her the once over,
she looked exactly as I
remembered,
only better.

“You haven’t been around lately”
I had dreamed of her lips,
that playful smile.

“We can make it like old times.
I can’t hold a grudge,
even though you have
been a naughty boy
staying ‘way so long.”

My heart diverted the b...

All night I worshipped her blankety-blank
without a single thankety-thank

so I called her a middle-aged blankety-blank
(to give her collar a yankety-yank)

then I pinched her on the blankety-blank
(it was really just a prankety-prank)

she hissed "don't you touch my blankety-blank!"
(I was hoping she'd give me a spankety-spank)

but she just covered up her blankety-blank
and asked how much I drankety-drank

and then my heart just sankety-sank
when she declared

"never again, w...

I looked out
my gray
third-floor
office window
and I saw
a perfect rainbow

the arc
of glorious color

and for the first time
in my life
I saw
where both ends
settled on the horizon

this was a
completely unexpected
miracle

awestruck
I grabbed my cell phone
and snapped a quick picture
but that didn’t do it justice

so I opened my word processor
to try and capture that thrill
that catch in my throat
but when I turned again to look
it was gone
lost somewhere...

She got up
and said

“It’s not working.”

I laid there
in naked humiliation

and she left

taking with her
three years
of my life

and her vibrator.

You just can’t understand
the pressure
the expectation

everyone claiming you
wanting a piece of you

the Jews claim me
as one of theirs own
but you know how
that all ended up

and the Christians
think they’re all doing things
in my name

the Muslims call me
a prophet
but still subordinate me

the Buddhists draw parallels
and come closer than most

and the atheists love me
because they find their strongest arguments
in my weakest followers

I’m tired of being ever...

The phonograph needle
drops on the Ames Brothers
“chestnuts roasting on an
open fire”

and I am instantly
back in my old room
at my parent’s house
and I am a kid wrapping
the first presents
I ever bought for anyone
from the Woolworth’s

“everybody knows
a turkey and some mistletoe”
staring transfixed
at garish rainbow lights
on a tree my Pop bought from the
hardware store parking lot

the smell of cookies baking in
a cramped overheated kitchen

aged voices speaki...