at the end of
the day
you will not be
shakespeare
will not even be
charles
bukowski or
anne sexton

i know you are there

it all slows down
it just
never got easier

in
retrospect
just wish
i learned
to
play the
piano

be

a member of
the band

any band
that needed a
piano

the great echo
facing the nation
millions displaced
somewhere far away

and
my neighbor moved
her house exploded
drone footage
working 3 or 4 jobs

miss her because
she was always pleasant
and wrote

poems about sex
poems about love
death and infinite
nightmares about sex

our cities will be
safe
unless you are a female
poet with opinions

pull  on a string
watch a leg move
sits like a doll
on a stick

she died in a car
on a highway then
she lived
that
made an impression

i have tears
dried on paper
collected
in all my pockets

we love stuff
optomism and conviction
jewelry and lipstick
handbags filled with
doughnuts and lsd

after the conclusion
the cringe moment
captured on canvas
in real life

they look like they
eat each other for snacks

dinner is served
unwrap the plastic
season the hologram

dance to the music
make the appearance
frame the silence
a fresh breath kiss
laced with
the killing herb

got sick
got well
got hooked
on joy
and sorrow

a new year of
strength a reminder
of the horizon

eat some greens
maybe
eat a bug

i will
never see you again
i said
to the mirror

for the time spent
in that restaurant in
south jersey

so stressed under
the fiction of the
moment

we were more than
that we were
trying anyway

trying   for a life
filled with meaning

untouched by happiness
rewards obscured by reason
and doubt

and i learned

learned that
i could believe
in
you

as you are
walking i
can see
you
from here

open the
door
comb the
cat
pretending that
all
must be well

it isn’t and
it is and
it isn’t and
it is

miss you much
at night
miss you
during the day

as i feign

it’s really gotten
stupid here

my sadness
takes over
runs like a
sloth

runs towards
extinction

the space ship
crashed
in my
garden

next to
the
peppers

a door opened
peering
out
a set
of
microscopic
blue eyes

quickly a
worm
arrived
ate
blue eyes
as a
bird
waited
on the
scare crow’s
shoulder