late november, no work

once in that rented room
small and modest
it finally dropped on me
and
in a way
my shoulders collapsed
relieved
as i panned night
for an omen
an opening

from this small high window
ice pellets slapped the thick glass and
bulleted the scurry of pavement chaos below

patient
i checked for towels and
took a shower just
to warm myself
then fell tight in bed
laboring down six bottles of ale
as the bills played some team wearing unfamiliar uniforms
i couldn’t even tell you
what place they were in

---

song for sonya

here lover
come
let’s undress
this sex between

disarm and expose
native tongue
liquid as air and soliloquy

in curled edges of
punch bag hearts
our sameness thrives

oh that man
that city worker with connections
with pupils warm as black ice
with shoulders big as movie idol
and a shadow that lingers like
the color of a bruise long after pain subsides

yet you withstood
too long

but here
naked as thoughts would allow
we meet on the lam
and your tension collapses

incensed
this adrenalin comes to collect a debt
i want him in soil

it’s not that you should have
worn my sheets as flags
or pretend to recall something we might have held
sonya, you simply are deserving of better

confess
re-liberate
unfurl hands
bring on a new ministry

 

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