A Golden Breeze
I hit like herons beginning flight,
I stroll like a ladder’s line in crushed stone,
I buy a simple verse of birds and pain,
I blow dead leaves like melodies,
I pass from blue to black, back to green,
I roll a forest mirror for all to see,
I split our bodies, sun-drenched sea,
I flow two by two, a golden breeze
The Weight of Smallness
I fucked his heart, ruined the fitted sheets,
flamingos left erect in a pool of afternoons,
summer silence tasting of sea, fluid and fair,
a faint memory I pull from a box – purple
lined felt rubbed smooth, days collecting shells
as a father, swiveling on a stool, self-centers.
Every morning he weighs himself, blue scale
on tiled floor, a winsome smile, pale and pink.
Yawning, he fidgets, a constant rubbing of eyes,
cracking of neck, wrists, fingers, then sits,
heavier than before, disheartened by the weight
of smallness, thumbs pressed against open palms.
Clasping the lid, I do not judge the gentle wind
for its cruelty – a soft shore too far to see.
I Am Pale
I was born with twenty-one teeth,
one still sitting near my nose. I feel
its hunger for those who breath
the evening air. I hear its song, I am
pale, swallowing sounds from an open well –
hoodwinked, tethered, cryptic plumage,
the sun, the flesh, the pulp. Not strong
enough to kill, I let it live, lost in lines:
While you were gone, sweet to the tongue,
I ate the garden lilies, flowered phrases
whispering white, Our sorrows are slight.
Walking unswept streets, mouths smacking,
honey-rich dust clings to our lips, aching for more.
My roots taste of blood, as do my hands.
One by One
My family: debased
by soldiers broken
by One picking caviar
thickly spread on buttered bread
from teeth purging
poems from poets,
translated by none –
We live as we die,
aware of this world.
One by one, they slaved us all.