The Sign

Away

some people go away

some people move away

some people pass away

I sometimes drift away

I can be sitting right here nodding away
at everthing you're saying

and be a thousand miles away from this
chair listening to a different 
conversation

funny thing about away

it don't always mean distance
sometime it means I'm somewhere
inside myself trying to find a way 

Forgot I Had

when I'm in my notebook
      I'm in my bag 

      pulling out stuff I forgot I had

      a backward K and question mark
      both been waiting in the dark

      some were seeds I couln't sow
      now they're things I finally know

A Little Silence

some nights I write love poems
some nights three women sing
and my heart demands one

  Ella sings about a room 
  
  a chair 
  
  in a house 
  
  that's not a home
   

  Sarah sings about what it's like
  to be strung out on love 

  
  Nina demands attention
  and lets the piano fill in the blanks 

I, Me, and Self

I says "I know me"
Me says "I don't know me"
Self says "I agree' 

The Sign

there was a school of 
   mastery

   over the doorway hung a
   sign that read

   MONK

   except the K was bacward

   a student pointed it out to
   the master teacher

   "the K is backward"

   the master teacher looked 
   at the sign and said
          

   "I Know"

   the student thought it odd
   but said no more

   days passed

   one morning while
   sweeping the courtyard
   the student accidentally
   knocked the sign from
   its hooks

   the student bent down to
   pick it up

   before putting it back

Go. Go. Go.

tick tock out of the box breaking the locks running the block you want speed I’ll give you speed no time to breathe no time to bleed no time for the things that we thought we’d need the city is a machine dumping coal in the fire higher and higher wire to wire burning up tires of the old desire spent twenty years waiting on a platform for a ghost wasting the most coast to coast toast to the host of the ultimate lie watch the days fly watch the sky die don't ask why just run outrun the sun outrun the gun outrun the done and dusty memories of everyone who told you to sit still who told you to take the pill who told you to wait for the thrill that never, ever, ever comes hear the drums that’s the pulse in the vein the nerve that complain forget the station forget the train forget the pain forget the rain we’re moving too fast for the ice to freeze ain't got no time to watch it melt on the surface feel the breeze shaking the trees till autumn leaves and winter enters like a...

Sandbag

Yo, look at the sandbag Just look at the sandbag one single heavy sack of dirt sitting at the gate trying to play hero against a wall of rolling white fate but the water don’t care about your little burlap the water came to take it all in a snap hear that no siren no warning no time to prepare for it Just a hairline fracture in the stone over there a snap a crack then screams drowning out quiet bedtime dreams the sandbag gone down stream in a rush like a sandbag in a hurry a sudden heavy roaring kind of hush like a sound of worry no time to run no time to sandbag the floor when the river is already kicking down the front door you were busy spinning a quiet little life but the flood don't negotiate with the likes of life

The Judas Metric

Manic Flow (revisited)

called to recite one night I stood a trembled voice, nerves showing throat scratchy turning pages in the book was holding, all eyes on me, waiting a few sips from a bottle of spritzer, took a deep breath then I let out a roar, a wounded lion's roar word for word, verbatim every syllable vibrating gripping the sides of the podium, I felt the momentum the crowd went silent I no longer cared who was listening my faucet leaking while rusty pipes knocked behind the walls no longer ashamed of the roaches crawling from the cupboard, falling into the red Solo cup with its ring of beer residue beside an open bag of Doritos the cat was out of the bag the dog was out back, tied to a tree. the mouse was caught in a trap the whole house heard the snap too deep now no turning back the words coming from my mouth cut so deep you could reach in and pull out an organ heavily sedated in a trance, the curtains closed the audience left in stitches from the incision

Suspended

walking on water 

is a miracle

walking on sand

upon the water 

is a riddle