Sending poetry to the world
Here in Texas the city shines on below
like a thousand studded jewels thrown off a
jacket and strewn across a dance floor.
spin your girl, and watch her go
Like a spinning top of legs in jeans and cowboy
boots. Watch the gentlemen with their quiet way
chew gracefully under shadded Stetsons.
we, those on the lawn lit up like a carnival,
fancy ourselves to be
so careless
and tan
mysterious people with new types of hair
and nowhere to be save
Monte
Carlo
leather up the leg,
all of us women, seduced,
dance for those eyes dark.
night blind
she sits achingly slow
next to the body
every wall shadow
watches as shoulders
on two wrists, bend
the form senses
the weight but stirs
only one eye.
these years later, when
taking my hand, you know how
each freckle took form.
and in california wine country
there is one cloud that spills rain
in a grey sheen on the horizon
while over here, sun sun on the vines
shimmers emerald with shades of
dark moss. the smell of fermintation
reminds us of the season; the constant
turning of one thing,
into another.
and one hand runs the wire
while the other swirls, and swirls.
how i remember
the way your head tilted
strangely off balance when
you were angry with me
and how the songs of Chicago
could make you close your
eyes and sway
if only you were here just
one more time, if only,
and the bike lane takes me around the
belly of the city
business suits walk by
staring and moving
identical parts
then there is this man
playing trumpet
and only the lapping harbor gives
a hand.
bike wheels squeal, delighted around the turn
oh how the city shines
like a girl preening in the mirror.
from the gas stove
a sizzle
[move quick –
and stir the wok, flip the
frying tofu,
while the rice pot
boils]
the table is set and your hands
folded
compliment the
napkins bowed
carefully in half
gas flames flicker off,
settle down,
scents rich then fill
noses with a quiet
anticipation
coveted prize, she
shines like a trophy, winning,
and gathering dust.
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