You make me lose my mind.
It's not like you do much,
Just talk and acknowledge me,
But I still think you're one of a kind.
What kind of music do you like?
Rain, sun or night?
Do you prefer the scooter or the bike?
Would you talk to me for the rest of my life?
Can you wiggle your ears,
Or curl your tongue?
Do you like dogs or cats?
Or maybe even bears?
What's your favorite color?
Is it red or yellow or blue?
I'd really like to know,
So please tell me a bit about you.
Cat purrs on the floor
Doggo licks his lips
Onyx and Midnight; my boys
Head bowed, tail lowered
He slinks, dejected
He moves, turns around
Round and round
As he settles down in his space.
I am leaving for office.
Sancho looks at me, unsmiling
I cannot fathom his expression
But I know his sorrow at my leaving
I cannot look him in the eye, I cannot bear to.
In the evening, I rush back home
To see him, craning his neck
For a glimpse
Waiting, beyond the grilled gate
Anxious, excited, tail wagging
Vigorously.
It ain’t easy to write about love,
The blind can see better than I.
The deaf has ears sharper than mine,
The dumb has voice sweeter than mine.
What do I feel, what do I sense
I do not know what is love.
Is it sorrow, is it joy,
Is it the lust betwixt my legs?
I listen to songs, if I feel the same
I like the lines, nothing more.
I read the books, stare at the words,
Aay bee cee dee, eee eff gee.
Weary from travel, home am bound
Opens the gate- then hears the bark.
A blur of a dog leaps at me
I can’t see, for he licks my eyes.
In the air conditioned room we sat
Facing each other, though not really
Facing each other.
If chanced to catch the other’s eyes
We glanced swiftly away – and then
Would covertly watch each other.
We waited our turn – though having arrived later
I guessed he would go in first.
It was awkward, our faces said, to sit
In nothing but a gown that reached just below our knees
And flaps held together by bits of Velcro.
Sometimes, I saw him demurely pulling down
The gown; the inside of his thighs could be seen.
To the head-capped, green-gowned who passed by now and then
We would have seemed like specimens in the biology lab
Waiting
That stray dog
You know
That one folks take
enough liking to
it never goes feral
On occasion tossed a scrap
Here and there water left
in bowls to lap as that dog tramps
in and about the domestic yet
without any urge to join
That dog belongs
by not belonging
That dog is not ours
We are that dog’s
If the barrel rolls
and goes unmissed until spring
was it ever lost?
In wisteria,
the remains of a feline
she dies when we die
Hot sauce on pizza
the man’s wife died this morning,
chatter in Russian
The lost magician,
our supervisor runs out
to give directions.
I had not wanted
to give up on this ball-point,
almost New Year’s.
Black dog on a leash
Summer sets…
stuffed red wagon
left at the curb
Summer sets…
toddlers churn
through the wading pool
Summer sets…
sweat on my left wrist dries
faster than my right
Summer sets…
fire truck howls
like a hollow tooth
From a sunken throne,
potentate breathes
in bubbles
Reticence
I lie still…
game breeze
combs my hair
I’m a poor host–
some of my books
can’t stand up straight
Rain…?
Or just wind
clacking the leaves?
Slow July…
water pauses
in the sink
Downtown Jesus…
spiderweb,
cheek to shoulder
Lying flat…
Tiny the child,
sunscreen smooth on his cheeks
like clown white
Grateful, at last, at
(farting my way through Thursday)
…enforced hermitude
Like a taffy pull,
bumblebee clung to one side
of the clover
How forlorn,
the truck’s rumble
without the truck
Imagination
disconnected, I tune
in to the night
Profundities,
Sat still his whole life…
at the last second–one arm
closer to the stars
Marchers gone home…
I watch steady storm spatter
take the concrete
Tenth week of the plague…
they pull down their masks
to talk over the dog
Beard to his belt
and one black boot halfway
onto the bus
Autumn of the heart…
if we’re all dead, who takes stock
of the curled leaves?
Lightbulb not like dawn,
Pen clenched in left hand,
bent over her sudoku…
our train cools down.
To grandmother and
grandfather, his tattoo, but
I don’t ask him why.
Two umbrellas hung
from the guard tower railing,
not needed today.
Balloon flowers,
available in two shades;
grade-school commuters.
Ducks greet the sunrise
I hear them but don’t see them
as they plan their day.
I put down my book