unwritten

hmm. all the words un-worked, the ink left in my pen
( the ones before type
before pixelated word replaced indigo altogether)
it turns out that
i can't reconcile
how making them appear on a page can be so easy
but pressing them into hearts and minds Hercules' lot.

sometimes, as they spill from tongues and fingers
it all chokes
midway through thought, partially in phrases, separated in sentences

or worse
the block appears.

the slow one, the mythical beast creeps in for some when happy,
having found peace.
lurking only in melancholic prayers to lost lovers and sorely missed demons

for others in the moments when mist clears,
their mountains visible from even the flattest crests, lovers separated by oceans
and time zones reunited
then they write beauty, lyric, harp songs:
exalted poetry

but what of the time between emotion
when there is nothing to pour, the honey well dry
but still sweet, dewy potential

it's in those times i wonder where the soul's light switch
really dwells,
when waiting for inspiration

Cat

cat

i remember when you were a kitten!
big eyes, pointy ears, round-headed tiny body caged with other species waiting to be picked by yet another species...

you crawled and careened up my arm,
on foreign shoulder perched like birds you would one day hunt
a crackling shadow meowing behind curtain drawn windows
in front of speckled apartment glass.
(our bigger, safer cage.)

you wore socks then,
white socks we would never be able to remove.
you were hungry for my lap, hungry to be stroked,
just plain hungry.

now they tell me you are older than i
with cunning instincts given to a maturity i may never know,

you shed ferociously all over my most stunning black
and puke in hidden corners mocking mops, buckets, vacuums.

your eyes watch me nude here wondering why i take off my fur just to put it back on again and again.

i love them those almond grass eyes, wet pink nose, dusty white socks...
the fact that you never beg
soft purr sleep above my head
treating me to your presence when i command it least.

you are solitary warmth, my imaginary friend come to life,
my choice
a creature of whim, fancy, fickle-tude...
semi-vicious beast shaped domestic subjugated to my care.
and when you die, as all things do,
i will erect a shrine to you in my head greater than the sphinx.

dance party usa

Music swirls Chariots staccato-stuck in metal spokes Soul samba Foxy trot, foxy lady Skinny dipping rhythm Submerged, drowned sorrow Of Lovers since evaporated, poof Another sounds Instruments stray from turntables Unforgiving, syncopated Like droplets in still water Dance! Arms crane surfing imaginary wind tunnels Contracted convulsions surround each other Flower petals bursting from Hidden stem within The exotic circle Sabroso, fluid And just when you think: Explode! Everything, everywhere, everyone is Re-leashed.

Playing Tag

Black dress

Label scratchy, rough.

I ask him: use these scissors

Sharp end facing me

Like kindergarten.

He reaches across my fist

takes them blade end first

pressing dull metal edges against skin,

indenting my palm,

sliding shears through yielding fingers.

Tactile punishment

For the wrong question…

He disregards the tool.

Eyes grazing me, squinted stare,

Placing one hand on my shoulder, (suggests the turn)

spinning me 'round

barely brushing hair above collar

holding,

Sliding his other hand

down my neck, inside

the black dress

he tears the label swiftly, leaving no blemish.

And without peering back

I exit the room, stage left,

as if nothing really happened.

Excuse Me, Did You Catch His Name

A baseball player died today
and i realized that

• i like people who believe stillness has soul

the inanimate
shaped by hand,
even mechanized-->the machine immortal too
in its mortal creation

This picther, he talked to the baseball
cushioned it with recognition, words, love
in a soft leather glove

And while my glass of wine
has no place on the stitched lips of a baseball
(or sad smile of a child's well-worn-soft-cuddle bear)
I know that somehow,
these "its"
they know as well as we
to mourn mortality