What I read between the lines

It was too stiff, too chalky.
It wore a business suit,
when nakedness was in order.
A harsh scrub on the face,
Three explanations when I asked
for one. A tooth on fire-- inflamed
by etiquette, sore from too much
sweet, not enough sour--
if that's what was called for,
what was needed. Perhaps
there were eyeballs
to be sewn; jewels
and cigarette holes needing
boxes, needing havens.
What I mean is,
you can't say beneficial
if you won't smash with the hammer.

this is foreign ground

A tea bag, filled with grass,
an afternoon nap at night-- given and
re-packaged for tomorrow.
There are cobwebs on my window,
struck by dust and rain.
Each morning a bird sings, or screams--
how familiar, how alive.
At least its a wall,
no longer a question mark--
those are harder to scale.
Mole hills, mountains--
each a rotting jar of pickles,
each a rung on the wrong ladder.

you always wanted the truth

This is beautiful, a pile of pretty
making designs I wouldn't have
seen if I had kept quiet, stayed clear and clean.
Each day a blush, a bashful glance.
Not knowing can be powerful,
a pinch each minute, a backwards
sway every hour. Into the dusk,
the haze of uncertainty, we travel.
The eye cannot say to the hand,
"Since you do not hold me,
I have no need of you."

Danger doesn't have to be a bomb

Mother's visit.
a tear in panty hose.
a simple "no" or worse, "maybe".
winter.
memory.
a pig in a blanket.
flowers for no reason.
silence.
silence.

my walk with Thee

Ground and afterlife--
our bed suspended between
the two. We roll like dice
landing on all fours.
You spin a necklace
with your spit, and wrap
and wind around my
neck. I curtsey, You bow.
A table for two
before my enemies, we
lift our glasses and drink
to mixed feelings.

finale

Finding the box is empty,
the lip chapped, cracked,
one whistle away from
a train. Thread the needle,
quick, a sling, a patch for
the wound-- the cut of afterthought.
I can rest now.
No longer lost at sea,
he's really dead.

honesty

Across the divorce, the back slash,
you ask for a cup of sugar.
I search the cupboards, the treasure chest,
nothing but a plastic spoon.
We are alone, we are separate.