Excerpts from "Sound Off" chapbook. Poetry Workshop I, Mills College, August-November 2009. Copyright 2009, all rights reserved.
"Progression"
As a
transcendent
As a
free for all
repeated chest pelting
supposition
As
calendar wrangling
early onset dementia
As a
numbed cataclysm
As a
extended liaison
bewildered iris
mission statement
as
Lanyard kin
Horizon line
as an
Ego rumination
Testament not old not new
as a
Memory likeness
as a
Carbon copier
Ampersand
Technology etching
as an
Intelligent design
as
Clarity.
That’s enough for today.
"unscheduled"
sounds smash into her silence
white noise darkening recycled thoughts she wears earplugs to
silence
the silence a familiar battle turned stalemate
whispered pleas uttered into blackness horizontally
NEVER kneeling God doesn’t forgive her for that.
Refrigerator motors thunder alongside barbeque
sauce limes chocolate syrup trickling down flowing
brain waves pooling mattress side dampening the
balls of her feet come
morning
thoughts continue as she sits She sets
the radio timer a cradle of melodies hold her
tight
"strangers"
this glass was blown and cut and formed
to create an other outside inside
an-other pane deflects these messages transformed
into the barrier splitting the seats between us i’d
sought a tin can string turned
makeshift noose imperfections accepted this time
eyes turned to pathways of fingerprints blurred
against a window melting dna yours and mine
stop pretending in this table turned court. being the judge
isn’t easy. stop glancing street side and try. opening up
my mouth was easy. you drop this a grudge
or fling accusatory stock sentences. this cup
half thirds quarters this isn’t full
order another. larger. a jarful.
"Chicken Chow Mein"
Nothing is delivered without cost.
[ cohesion and concreteness
coherence ]
Ideals are minimal. Intangible. Disintegrating.
Entirely overrated. Minimally useful.
Often repulsive.
Sugar free Red Bull.
Merely something to hold.
Something to cap, cover, close
Off.
Your fortune: Only you can change your life. No one can do it for you.
My fortune: A person is never to old to leNoproblem leaves you where you found it.arn.
It is quite the reasonable goal,
to shatter that which has already collided.