Poems circa 2008

Swamp

muddy waters
reach up a hand
pull me in
swim the dim

when I walked a million hazy bubbles
bursting a million flickers of
smuggy orange oil
lit the air like firefly demise
like falling tea lights
dusk filtered through a swamp

and following the river reedy
moss-laced
I came to the shallows
reached in a hand
and pulled you out of
muddy waters

Probability Class

Like a puppy dog

Writing what you write

erasing what you do

trying not to shipwreck

when note-taking overcomes

comprehension

goddamn your tablet p.c.

inserting lines where I cannot

(seeing how that was actually in my class notes, there may have been more reasons here for my lack of success)

Poem

Chapped lips
Broke china:
    tea set stained from red juice
Broke bank
back
heart
lost ambition, ammunition
personal prohibition
  ition
loop of a
mobius mind

hunger will always come back tomorrow
don't forget

Overheard in Value Village on 800 Block of North Ave

“I hate shopping because when I go into stores everything terrifies me”

Sweaters bite out like

vicious woolen creatures

All items hung

innocently enough-

    in a line on the racks

         calculating

    (with the register an ally)

Should you begin down 

  an aisle

the ends may recede

hanger labyrinth

Then at the edge

cold heartless soles of

the Shoe Department

will stomp you out;

lay chase

Because

i swear it was only because

my boss called and told me not to come in- it

was so slow today, they didn't need me

and the sky was so unusually blue and

it felt so nice, the blue reflecting on my skin

because

my new sneakers make walking like playing

a symphony- i could practically hear the violins.

who knew they made the asphalt around here

out of clouds

and because

you have that new puppy, Zizzou, after the

movie after the diver

and he likes me so much i know it. he

follows me around, ate the old sneakers

and only because

your apartment is right around the corner

from that new cafe where they sell

chocolate covered strawberries

two-for-one, and there are two of us

it's really only for these reasons

(and because i needed to be over that way

anyway, needed to bring back a library book)

it is only because of all of this that

i came to see you

8:30 a.m., bring gloves

Sometimes

Stuck in a cycle; each day in same

Oversleep, late to class, dinner Natty Boh

       Problem Set

    More Boh. NAp

tv?

     dreaming

Lather. rinse. repeat.

The tiger-ness has all gone tame

(though there does remain a tiny flame)

And so you know

A bolt of lightening should be in the making

Sweet success in simply coming home

Today is not one of those days

On the way here I punched every bush along the wall

by the practice field

And they all punched back.

Nightmares

I.

I was having an awful nightmare

But on the verge of tears

I suddenly found a calm

Realizing they were actually your fears

Not mine.

Except maybe the gorilla.  That scared the shit out of me.

II.

Elevators

Falling  twisting

One side is loose

The open door between floors

A terrible plummet

My breath may not catch so much for 3 floors

But 30

What is there to hold on to?

III.

I'm running but I can't catch up

My feet are lead

The group turns a corner in the distance

Something chases me

And someone wants to kill me but I don't know why

There is only terror, confusion

That slowly dissipates into

Abominable sadness

As if the real fear was just

This awful ache

And the worst part is I can't find you anywhere