don't talk to strangers:

keep your mouth
as a key chain-- you
wouldn't want to give 
yourself away so soon--
hold your breath &
count to twelve
when you walk through
the throngs of
the bus station--
crosswalk-- 
the food court chewing
itself into bone--
don't talk to strangers--
watch them-- study them--
collect them--
with their black handbags 
& open guitar cases &
curly auburn hair--
holding hands with
their brother--
they cross the street 
8 feet away & 
don't ask them their
name-- keep them strange
& interesting like
yourself--
the goal here is 
to become a stranger
too--
don't talk-- there's
only so many words
& i'm saving
three of them for
a friend
oh isn't 
she
just a
stanza waiting
to happen? 
don't you want
to a poem someday?
hold on to
your strangeness--
your 
strange-er-ness:
a person 
entirely unaccustomed to?
to a feeling
to a feeling or
a situation--
what are you a stranger
to? i think i'm
a stranger to
eclairs 
because i've never had
one & i'm a stranger
to canada because
i've only ever stood
on the other
side of a border
to peer over
& see a tree line &
a man on a white
boat-- clam nets
plunged into the
bay-- was he
really trying to
catch a mermaid?
i know i was--
& when you say hello
to someone 
make sure that it
is just strange
enough-- don't 
ever exchange names--
forget your 
own & have a different
one ready for
when you order
a coffee at Starbucks 
(a good place for
strangers)
& when you see me again--
mist tip-toeing
from mug-- poetry book
akimbo on 
the wooden table--
you have
my blessing
to pretend that
your don't 
know me-- that
you don't remember
how my fingers 
felt entangled
with yours-- the
bristle of
my leg-hair-- 
way the sun went
down
early on us & 
stamped our black
shadows
on the hill behind
yourself 
oh you stranger--
don't worry
don't worry
i gave up
names long
ago-- i tucked yours
away for safe keeping--
our old love
is a pocket watch--
a key 
under my tongue--
a pearl--
i kept only
some of our pictures 
& i still have
a necklace 
with a strand of
your hair stuck
in the chain from
when you laid
on my chest &
promised me that
we would have fireworks--
oh stranger
we will have fireworks 
& fireworks
& fireworks
i. a person
who does not know
or is not known--
i. a person
with whom one
is not familiar--
oh come here
be strange with
me-- we'll
write our
names
in yellow chalk
& use palms to wipe
them away
count to twelve
hold your breath
before you
vanish--
i'm making you
a stanza--
don't talk to 
strangers--
i want to hide
where
i'd least
expect
to be known