waiting for my inheritance

poetry

meek- lame
in the presence of strangers
i wander wondering
will I inherit this earth corner too?
what about the bird, the man, the stone,
the sieve and the sand
do I get them too?
a reward for all my awkwardness-
for laughing off
the absurdity of the
adult stranger sticking her tongue out at me in the streets, or the
friend’s endless babble about the pregnant shrimps he ate.

alone on benches waiting for trains

poetry

sit many,

silent spread out and waiting

to be taken the same place but not together.

hoping their train will soon arrive.

 

as children they’d sat near to mother afraid and close

holding her hand, small and wondering

not knowing where they were going.

some things never change

 

now, not brave, but bigger at least and used to being alone

or maybe just resigned.

hoping their train will soon arrive to take them away

 

on the train now, they all sit apart together, looking away

out the window, avoiding eye contact with all the other someones

outside a sign:

“Use caution when exiting the train.”

and then: 

“Please be mindful of children.  Please take them by the hand.”

Sound advice

as if hearing the pleas of the silent passing eyes.

switch

poetry

imagine a switch that you could
flip to turn day into
night—
shutting the sun off like
a halogen lamp dissipating blue to
black revealing blinking
stars and emptying streets of
people and cars

gone, will be all signs of life
(or at least, into hiding:

beneath rooftops and cotton
Sheets—where i’d really rather
be
with you)

at the flip
of a switch.

things that made us famous, but you’re still nobody

poetry

all too many people
shy away from the topic of poo
out of fear of offending
their mothers reading
their works when they finally
publish their own book
someday

the sieve can address it all
from rape to cannibalism
when we want to say pants
we say trousers

if i say trunk, i mean both
the ass of the car
and a garment to cover your ass
whilst you swim

i have boldly gone where you
have not
the deep has never challenged me

hover, and hold
squatting will keep you from having
to squeeze

but dont fall in
or you’ll become famous
you nobody.