from strangers 

i soaked sponges in sugar
& left them out for 
the neighborhood children & by children
i mean gnats & flies & ants.
small & innocent the crueler things
of the world. i lean down to watch
their mandibles working-- licking flakes 
of sweet crystal from the sponge.
the sponge is one stolen from the ocean
or at least the closest thing to the ocean:
the kitchen sink where everyone 
goes to be baptized. blue soap. hot water.
plate after plate after plate. 
i stuck my hands in the bad of sugar
because it feels like sand because
i could pour it out on the floor of my room
& become a white beach.
you should never accept candy 
from strangers but what if the stranger
is tall & beautiful & what if the stranger
is clearly looking for quiet company
on a thursday night & there is no one else around.
if you eat sugar & no one sees you do it
did you really eat sugar? is the candy
made of glass or crystal or sand.
don't accept sand from strangers 
if they told you it was 
supposed to be sugar. the bugs come
& eat from my hands, picking up
just one grain at a time. 
across the street a few kids buzz
in a lamp light with basket ball & i want
to be full of wings & legs like them.
i want to video games to pluck
from the grass. i want to by school supplies
desperately at the end of august.
is this much of our lives supposed to
be devoted to wanting to return 
to larva? i feed them sugar from sponges 
because they will enjoy it more than 
i ever could. i consider crawling into
one of the sponge's pours & waiting there 
for a year or two till all this life
passes over--till i'm forgotten & i can
emerge as a spool of dust as a plate 
in the sink as the blue blue soap 
pouring over a forehead as God tell us
to wash all the grease & the sadness
& replace it with white sugar.
i walk down the street
hoping one of the strangers will offer me
something sweet or sticky. i don't make
eye contact because that would be
too forward. i put the sponge in my pocket
in case they end up being hungry.
they pass by & pass by & pass by.
are they waiting for me too
& will be perform this dance 
of missing each other forever
or will one man one night come
unwrap a cherry hard candy 
& carefully place it 
in my mouth & tell me 
to follow him.