jolene

less the radio, the static, the sun
whistling wind and races
for fun faces,
smiles undone and you're falling apart
if we cross the finish line then we're back at the start.

i read the graffiti in the bathroom stall:
remember who you wanted to be.
I don't remember her at all,
and she's forgotten me.

for the midnight hour, one more waltz,
it's closing time and you're falling apart,
crash into me, only the melody
you're only a memory, i'm only me,
only a shadow of bloody and free,
only the morning for lost mourning queens -

but i'm only me and
this is all we'd ever need.

funky tick groove

we diffracted half
and i bounced back
and nodes became antinodes
and you wept
and i sighed,
because i was laughing inside.

it's one hell of a ride.

child, i sing songs for you
and line my eyes for you
and smile when i'm feeling blue,
and you can too.
sometimes the smile comes true.

don't you see?
we can check out anytime we like,
but we can't never leave.

platform 9 3/4

archway to somewhere
the girls all walked through and came out PhDs

i pictured sailboats on the lake,
boys in the bedrooms,
and mardi gras.

they told me that i could be
anything.
and that possibility
is
just
plain
exhilirating.

dan the bastard

crushing, slowly compressed
and we grunt like Giles Corey,
"more weight" and the unrelated brother Richard
(okay how obscure can I get here?)
has everything.

you blink and miss it and the guilt of sleep
the shudder of pulses and lids
and they want to stay together, forever
you and your prince, dearie.
just give me your voice.

we found the light at the end of the tunnel in medical mysteries,
thrilling tuesdays, casual sex,
sounds just a bit like bliss from way down here.
gotta swim up to swim out,
keep singing. keep swimming.

he's done, but that doesn't mean we haven't won.

stripper strobe stairway

i had a day full of praise
but that's not all i want -
i want the stage.

to throb with the bass,
to scream with the boys,
to run from the chase,
and make lots of noise.
to find i've been shattered
exploded apart
to know that it matters
this beat in my heart
and this heat in my soul

you know you got it
if it makes you feel good,
ohhhh

on HIS legal marriage

they don't talk.
they do lock
the doors tight,
even when it isn't night,
even in the bright
of day when only deer are around.

and him, mine, i guess
he wants days off from doing nothing

and him, his, really,
he's angry about this, but won't say
because, like i said,

they don't talk.

to the father of my children

this is not normal,
i am sure.
and freakuently,
life is a blur, and the constants
and you and her,
and him and them.

and you've stopped asking,
and i know when you're angry
and jealous
and impressed.

and damn, those kids
are going to have three fathers,
and be really attractive,
and really happy.

on our legal marriage

we will have a castle
plastered with bookshelves, candles,
music to make us smile and cry.
we will dance beneath the diamond sky
and swim naked in the pond I know we will have
and laugh about this, and that,
and have cats.
(tempo and ringo, still?)

we will make dinner, and hang laundry, and go out
or stay in.
it's an epic win.
you're my best friend.

my dirty little secret

is entwined in my mind
like your limbs around mine.

i want my parched lips to drink
from the well of your tears and that cold glass
of vodka and confusion,
follow the contours of your face that i know,
so well, well, well.

i want to know why you said, "go slow"
and why that burn is not
fading.

i want to know if i should say, "no"
because if i don't want to know
anything,

then i am nothing.

just another regret.

to have known one dead

you are star lights
and leopard tights
you are dead days
and throbbing nights
you are fighting

for him, for what he is
for what he gives

is black, black
black like your night thrills
black light your right kills
you've scaled the heights
of devotion and he gives
back, back
back with a needle in a haystack
and throbbing veins slowly
black, black
black

i can do that too

the day everyone went fuck crazy
i was climbing up mount misery

the day she swore she told me
i was blast drowning in ecstasy

the day he said he was sorry
declared dead on the word "i"
and me so brow-beaten-broken
raised my head to the sky.

ophelia

if i could,
i would.
oh, i would.

if i love,
then i love,
and oh, i love.

if i see
what i've seen
and i see
what i've seen,
then i see.

and i would love.

i would love you.

jet sunset

when we turn heads
and words
twisted upside down
hanging around for the last sound:
all you have to do

your voice says my name these days
with a little
something special
and i smile -
for hours
and hours
and hours
on end

i'm driving into the light now, into a sunset
so i'm chasing it, and you're chasing me,
and baby, can't you see?
that maybe, all we can be

are our own last words:
all you have to do

kyle

poetry and
love children and
saturday night
open mike

your apology is not accepted!