white christmas the sky wanted so badly to snow for us-- last night as you drove me home we listened to her as she sobbed in her bathroom-- touched her face with the back of her hand-- felt herself falling more & more she came down as as rain on our wind shield & you said that it wasn't quite snow-- there is a loneliness to christmas that has settled in me as i've gotten older-- a deep fear of darkened store-front & the absence of open signs-- it is such a terrifying & rare thing to see people stopping-- to see the super market parking lot vacant-- i have a deep sympathy for the almost-snowflakes this year-- i feel like the whole year sneaked up on me & now i'm here-- haunting my house alone on christmas eve & somewhere there are santas clauses with umbrellas & soaked socks-- will he start up our fire place again to dry off? will he come in through the window this year? will he bring me the slowness i asked for-- oh the sky just wanted that unhurried promise of snow-- the way it breathes a hush-- the way it teaches humans patience again-- when i was little there was once a thick perfect christmas snow & when i stepped outside with my father we saw reindeer foot prints on the roof & everything moved as if we were isolated inside a snow globe or a music box or living out our lives in one of those model christmas houses on side tables-- the yellow glow of our porch lights on the cotton snow-- for who do you melt? for who are you feeling heavy? so i stared out the window as the rain became more determined-- counted the cars as they swam with windshield wiper strokes-- i wanted to know where they all could be driving so late on christmas eve-- i wanted to tell them that there are no stores open-- there are no more places left to go besides churches & the WaWa on fifth avenue where people like me go to pray in the headlights of the congregation of other people so struck by the fear of the store fronts with their eyes shut-- this poem is a prayer for you & the snow-- a prayer that we stop letting years pass by without enough i love yous a prayer that you will wear your glasses when you drive at night & a prayer you & me will finally stop getting older-- you are the reindeer foot prints still pacing my roof you are the few persistent snow flakes that managed to fall last night--
Uncategorized
12/24
neptunium in the 7th grade i discovered neptunium-- while other students were breathing helium-- their voies laughing off onto another plane-- or shifting for gold in the creek behind the school-- handfuls of rocks none of which bore the glint of the sun-- our fathers made batteries up the street in the factory that was easily mistaken for a city at night when even the street lamps often gave up-- all-fours i peered under my mattress to find the black radioactive rocks pulsing-- they deserved to be harvested-- to be loved like the plentiful elements with sparse electrons in their orbitals-- fingers burned to bone-- i tore them free-- wrapped my hands in gauze by the bathroom sink & my mother asked what i was doing in there so long with the water running-- i said i'm fine i'm fine i'm fine-- because everyone in 7th grade is fine & on the cusp of radioactivity that they themselves could never know-- i felt it swelling-- gripped the sink-- watched myself in the mirror-- oily skin & freckles turning into pot hots-- i tripped on my own mirror image-- palms sweaty-- everyone is fine in 7th grade-- this was right before i let myself break full length mirrors-- before the windowsill was a god-- i returned to my bunk bed--filled my back pack-- every student had been assigned one element to explain to the class-- mine of course neptunium-- but no one expected us to become this close-- i spoke to her as i fell asleep-- learned to break off pieces small enough to swallow-- it tasted like a cross between black licorice & purple rock candy-- i locked my door-- i started to pray to the element-- the impossible element who had come to find me-- out there in the world there was hydrogen to be breathed-- calcium somewhere between milk & bone-- potassium in the ripe bananas on the fridge but we-- we are neptunium-- unfathomable-- born in nuclear reactions-- holding hands with bed posts & chubby freckled girls like me who wanted to pierce their own ears when the time came-- like neptunium we too wear black with the intention of having the night sky take us back-- we too wonder what kind of world would bring us into it only to admit that we in fact have no clear use-- a volatile mess of electrons & neutrons fighting for control of a body-- where do you hide your own entropy-- do you open your windows? everyone everyone everyone is fine in 7th grade-- everyone has wadded into the creek-- prayed to a false god who did at least for a moment understand them-- neptunium the God of instability so fraught he only manifests in laboratories & under the bunk beds of young girls on the brink of tripping tragically into the growing up games of children-- bent like a microscope throwing up stone & crystal-- cutting my throat till only blood still dripped from my chapped lips in the bathroom stalls-- hand sanitizer prophets are born here-- only in retrospect can i thank the burns on my fingers-- the nights un slept as we talked-- as she explained to me her body-- the way the scientists stared into her-- an object of awe-- of containment-- i promised her that i would never keep her like that-- i drew her image on a white poster board to present in front of class like anyone else & when i came back that afternoon she was gone-- i felt the cool bare mattress & cried-- everyone is fine in 7th grade is fine is fine is fine
12/23
DNA is it something in the twist of my DNA? the metal slide from the park-- are we descending? jacob's ladder of nucleic acids-- proteins & lipids-- the instructions for our bodies printed on a spiral staircase-- follow me up to the attic-- i packed the blue suite case full of stuffed animals-- we can clear a space on the floor & play-- oh god where did you write my brown brown eyes & where did you write the lonely ache beneath my fingertips-- is there someone else on this stair case or am i here alone going up & up & up or is it down? what direction do your memories whorl? whose ladder do you use to change the porch light bulb? i am someone to be coiled into-- someone to open the windows for-- i have resolved that it is something in my DNA-- in the smallest foot steps left in my chest that makes me like this-- like corkscrew promises-- like throbbing heels under my chest-- a man in boots pacing each rib-- i am a sleepless banister-- an anxious rung-- this ladder is made of guitar strings & deoxyribose-- i inherented the sugar phosphorus backbone from my father-- he in stubborn & far too attached to the persistence of ceilings-- perched on a cloud with a quill pen an angel wrote us-- his scroll curling-- helix of our headaches-- gyrating us into souls-- do you keep your brown eyes in the attic? have you ever tried to remove your DNA? i have-- took a bottle opener to my throat-- scraped & scraped as the double helix writhed & squirmed-- stab of my own finger nails trudging through flesh i begged for it to come free-- un write un write me-- i want to climb the attic stairs alone-- run away again-- pack the blue suit case & travel up & up or was it down? what direction do your brown eyes spiral? were you caught in a whirl pool of covalent bonds? i distrust these molecules-- i distrust ladders & the act of descending-- help me i want to take them out-- i want to live blankly & void-- i want to live without instructions-- a loose body dangling in uncertainty-- the metal slide at the play ground-- cold in the autumn-- always wear long pants-- it makes sliding down easier-- i'll pile my DNA outside my body as mulch & the neighborhood children with play-- swing higher than ever before-- land-- snap hydrogen bonds-- slowly i will dissemble-- become a molecule to be swallowed-- i hope when i drop i land facing the sky-- you told me that every night you look for Orion's belt-- i want to gaze with that comfort of knowing that there's someone else with brown eyes & staircases still trapped just beneath the skin-- twist with me-- grab me DNA handfuls-- the attic is waiting-- up & up or was it down?
12/22
semi-automatic is it naive of me to want to replace these bullets with rain? trigger thunder clap-- the god of lightning was displeased at humans incessant fixation on destruction-- as inevitable as the discovery of fire thus was the discovery of the bullet-- dropped from a grey cloud-- at first mistaken for hail-- they will tell you that there are bullets in your teeth-- they will tell you that the first bullet was from Prometheus-- the heroic defiling of the gods-- we revel in our own ability to draw blood-- how human how human it is to bleed oh this is our manifest destiny-- we expel metal-- we hone death down to the acuteness of a trigger-- we all learned about guns from our fathers-- from our backyards-- we learned that the eyes of deer are made of copper & to be used as bullets-- in my attic as i dug through card board boxes yet to be unpacked since we'd moved i discovered a small black gun-- trembling-- electro-magnetic pull-- i clasped her body-- the barrel-- the sleek trigger-- i aimed upwards towards heaven in case the gun discharged-- i didn't want to be holding her-- i wanted to burry the gun & never see it again-- i wondered who in my family would own such a tool-- i wanted so badly to test out the trigger-- as humans we have all been taught to pull triggers-- to absurd the kick back into our shoulders-- aim high past the ceiling light-- into the forehead of the clouds-- i pointed at god unknowingly-- snap of the gun-- laugh of a bullet i meant to replace with rain but instead burst into the white belly of heaven-- come blood in a drizzle-- a reddish mist-- fog-- thumb print teeth-- the ankles of my hands-- i stumbled-- the roof was a cloud running away from me-- a child wrong by the promise of the gun-- the snake was a gun & the each bullet another blood red apple for us to bite into-- at recess when i was eight & we were pretending to be robbers our fingers were semi automatic & when the teacher asked what it was that our guns fired we told her gumballs-- we all knew they were bullets-- it is grossly naive of me to sit here while rain drops chase each other off the ledge of a cloud & think that maybe just maybe they could explode from the barrel of a gun-- through our canvas shoes-- leave us dripping instead of dead-- oh god, don't forgive your trigger children-- it was me who aimed upwards-- recoiled back down into the earth-- please take back your bullets-- too silver-- too metal too fast
12/21
ripen let's eat the green bananas from a top the fridge-- i was not ready to be naked for you-- but there we were in the patience of each other's shadows-- peels in the trash can-- fingers caught in mouths of string-- we are never ready are we? i keep waking up in kitchen cabinets-- i ask my father to unpeel the clementines still in the basket hoping one of them will be me-- i have been waking up in the back yard-- i have been remembering my tooth pick sinews-- my stale popcorn marrow-- buttery & cold in the morning on the kitchen counter-- handful by handful-- let's eat our oranges sliced in smiles-- teeth still stung from tooth paste-- impatience is the first sign you are in too much love-- it's rising-- up to your neck-- do you remember how you learned to tread water? do you remember the intimacy of swim lessons? how it was the first time you learned what your body felt like when touched? this is self-love making-- this is the bitter white strawberries who were picked too soon & will in fact never ripen no matter how long you leave them in the door of the fridge-- i'm still persuading the red out from under my skin-- i'm still learning what kind of naked i want to be & there you came along & ate green bananas with me-- & there you came along & woke me up from the back yard & told me to come inside-- they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree & out there in the frosted stubble grass i was looking higher & higher-- what kind of branch could have held a body like mine? i was green & fresh when you loved me-- i was a clumsy dive into a chlorine thick pool-- belly slapped from impact-- you were the water-- the hard thick vast water-- the finger nail beneath the skin of the orange-- ripening is a myth you know? no matter how many nights you wait in the heat of the freckled sky you will never be as vibrant as you are now-- your skin the color of limes-- there's mint leaves in your teeth-- stop waiting-- i want to learn to stop waiting for myself-- stop trying to dig the syrups & the sugars from my arteries saying this this this will make you love me-- this will make me taste better so i say lover let's eat the green bananas from on top of the fridge i have no patience for mornings-- i am ripe-- i am treeless i am stale i am so so anciently green-- when you find me asleep in the yard know that the sound of the clouds will wake me-- i'm not asking you to wait for me-- i'm just saying you can
12/20
mood ring if we all wore mood rings you could hold me tight between your finger & your thumb until i blushed blue & in love with you-- you could read me-- change my temperature & i could press you until you became beige & restless-- when i was 8 i got a mood ring at a gift shop on the beach & i spent the next few days holding the glossy colorful surface to different locations on my body-- my neck-- the skin of my soft palms-- this is how i discovered the shades of my blood-- my soul dripping cyan & yellow-- lime green & adventurously red did you know a soul could be red? & when you hold me i won't know what color i'll turn because i've long since lost my mood rings-- given up on the colors laying beneath dormant in my body-- somewhere on the beaches of assateague between waves eager to finally break & the gritty sand caked on my knees i lost my mood ring while searching for the color pink inside my-- i was delving for the uncertain-- the fearful-- the froth of surf & sunset bruising in the distance-- if you clasp yourself tight enough you can become any color & so i did & now i'm 21 & i don't have a mood ring but when you cupped me like water i leaked auburn & amber-- wild & mauve you let me go-- you let me seep into the soil-- a rainbow in formation-- a wave attempting to break-- come here & let me coax the colors from under your skin-- i want to see your grey- blue soul shake water from your hair-- & when i lost my mood ring i felt oddly free-- as if i no longer had a barometer for my heart beat-- as if the only color i had to feel was the red throbbing of my sunburn shoulders-- peeling as i surveyed the damages in a full length mirror-- i stung all over-- heat pulsing-- i wondered what color i would be if i hadn't lost the mood ring in the ocean-- if i hadn't warn it so dangerously & i wept indigo & vermilion-- amaranth & aquamarine-- laughing-- oh let me hold you tonight-- there are so many hues left to surface in you-- i want to touch you-- i want to help you feel them-- look our hands are amethyst-- trust me-- put on this mood ring & run away into the azure ocean with me-- this time we'll get lost on purpose-- break with me in rainbows-- press me to your neck-- your blood was sunset bruised & mine was still sunburned & red
12/19
my father & i buy ice i was twelve & in the heat of july my father drove me up the street in his senile blue jeep to go buy ice at the kutztown bottling works-- i craved the walk-in freezer-- day-dreamed of her wideness-- her rows of straight white teeth-- the beer store worker with his stubble & loose grey t-shirt would take the first key from his key ring to unlatch the door-- cold breath emanating-- tundra thumbed-- polar bear promises echoed across my prickled goose bump skin-- my father would send me inside-- the scout-- i proceeded on horse back into the wasteland of bagged ice-- set to return to sweaty-palmed summer reverberating off the pavement-- to my father's tin foil car with hot seats & broken rear view mirrors-- there i meandered deeper i imagined staying in the freezer-- pushing the door shut & living among to haphazard mountains of artificial ice & i thought of all the miracles of stillness & how maybe with the door shut i could finally stop time long enough to think-- i was twelve & my stomach was round with cinnamon raisin bagels & i was scared of my skin & becoming a middle- schooler & having to fall in love soon-- i was scared of how quickly midnights gave themselves away & whether or not the ice would melt before we got home & if i would melt along with it-- the first time we visited the walk-in freezer my father shut the door to show how there was a safety lock-- to prove that if the door ever shut behind us that we wouldn't freeze to death-- i wished life had more safety locks & more walk in freezers where time could go & lay itself down in bags-- fabricated mountains-- i grabbed a handful of ice & chewed-- taking the freezer into my body-- giving up all claims i had to time-- this was of course before i met you & much much before i met myself but i understand her-- coveting the coldness-- her father calling from the other side of the thick shut door & her wondering if there was anywhere to hide so that she could stay longer-- she wanted to take apart her bones & her fat & lay there as a bag of ice-- unable to dissolve in the graceless heat of the sun scolding her from above-- skin tinged red-- headache a jingle of the key ring & the door swung open again-- my father walked inside & took me by the hand-- i lied & said the safety latch was stuck & he slung a sack of ice over his shoulder-- the cold persisted through my body the whole drive home & i sat on our porch-- sensing my bones returning from ice-- & this was before you knew me but if you happen upon a walk in freezer step inside for me-- feel time resign-- your blood turn to black ice in the drive way you can have my brown brown eyes & my goose-bump gravel skin-- next time my father won't be there to open the door-- & summer won't wait with eager insults & i will sculpture myself still
12/18
will you teach me how to fall asleep? every so many nights i forget again what sleep is & i lay awake with the color of the ceiling getting harsher & harsher above my head-- heart vanishing into moths with no light to fly towards-- the darkness of my room takes on the body of the mountains-- looming--framing the sky-- clenched knuckles white-- above me i watch you become a hole in the ozone-- the ceiling a kind of wound to let in our ultra violet sex-- will you teach me how to fall asleep again-- press your warm thumbs over my eye-lids & teach me how deep we can each trip behind our own shut eyes-- what kind of darkness is there to stumble upon? what kind of rocks will tremble in me? i'm asking you because i trust you-- because i know that sleep has escaped from you too-- in all different wave lengths-- left our bodies sun burnt in shadow-- love me red & throbbing-- do you remember who first taught you to sleep? i think it was the god hypnos-- his cave guarded by poppies-- cancerous soldiers-- forgetfulness flowing-- the river lethe-- there in his ebony bed-- devoid of light & sound there was nothing left to do but to discover sleep & in doing so claims half of our lives-- the reflection-- oh live in these mirrors with me i want to be opposite tonight-- take my hand when we walk into his grotto-- if you forget my voice replace it in your memory with the drip of melted snow from the roof-- i will remember yours as the sound of moth wings beneath my ribs-- is your bed made of ebony & do you eat poppies to fall asleep-- help me peel off my skin-- oh i feel like a snake & when we wake up there will be no more ozone & we will live red & scratch ourselves open again & again but for now i want to bask in your stillness-- your imageless soundless form-- lurking with me in the birth place of all of our first sleeps-- oh & thinking of you how it that even here i feel the sun's deadly bright eyes eviscerate me-- leave me flowing forgetful over the knuckles of the rocks-- what was your name & is it you who will teach me how to fall asleep? you with your skeleton overtaking the ceiling-- the heavens were always a type of scar to be had-- this time when i lay down in bed i'll remember you & me & our lost anatomy in his grotto-- heavy weary with travel-- when you find sleep again will you please come back-- bite my ear-- kiss my neck-- i would give up all light & sound for the warmth of your body-- i'll be waiting for you-- break through the mirror & spend your seven years of bad luck in a dream with me-- sleep tastes metallic-- trickle of blood-- snow thaw
12/17
if i fall asleep while driving i hope i dream of us-- of the highways of your hair & the knots in our tongues-- i hope my car somersaults like me in the grass when i was 7 & just learning how to flip the world upside down-- we all loved hour glasses & trying to perform hand stands-- back against the wall-- crash into the corn field-- fracture the windows-- feed the tires to the krakens-- the deer will find me somewhere through the night sky-- crash of stained glass & drop of the moon on the dining room floor-- on Old Mill road-- did you hear it shatter & did you hear me fall asleep? it was as loud as the snow-- a quiet series of kisses & regrets-- my eyes just envelops to shut & send you all the thousands of ways i've see you-- when you read my letters do so in the open air so that those pieces of my soul can climb back up into the clouds-- do you feel all the high beams gleaming from your body? last night my car was warm & i closed my eyes at stop lights-- telling myself that i could nod off for just one moment just one moment & i wanted someone to take over-- to drive me home while i leaned the passenger seat back & slept through the rolling shoulders of Pennsylvania-- no one wants to drive themselves home-- if i fall asleep while driving-- drift into the adjacent lane-- rapture in someone else's headlights-- i hope you know that my evaporation will be sudden & painless like the martyrdom of deer jumping out of the woods at precisely the wrong times-- loving you was like swerving to miss a doe-- her glassy coal eyes brandished in the middle of the road-- loving you was like falling asleep at the wheel-- the chaos of warmth-- the thrill of open windows in winter-- my goose bump skin heavy with gravel-- i pull over to pick up the fragments of the moon-- how will we know when the sky is new without her? how will the waves of our bodies know to come back to shore? i wanted to call you-- tell you to talk to me so that i didn't fall asleep but i also wanted to temp my body-- see how much i wanted to drive home-- how much i wanted to wake up tomorrow in the carcass of a vehicle-- corn field stubble of my legs-- the deer huddled around me-- wondering how it was that a human could sleep while moves so fast-- they teach me to have four legs & they carve out hunks of night-sky for my eyes & i become enamored of headlights-- craving your high beams in my body-- if i fall asleep while i'm driving home come look for me & when you find my over-turned green volvo that is where you start walking-- wait for night fall-- i'll be the deer-- breath pouring mist into bare december
12/16
tail-lights & you said that that all those tail-lights looked like strings of christmas lights lit up for miles ahead-- red flicker & blink in the snow turning grey-- slush beneath tire-- it's too early for it to stick-- ground warm from our boots & our anixous cross-walking afternoon-- somehow whenever we get lost in the city it snows & i'm forced to remember kissing you in your driveway & every light grows bolder-- flashing off layer after layer of white-- who trusted the buildings to grow so high around us? how trusted us to become so old now-- with our dry chapped hands & dislocated homes-- when i say i want to go home i mean i want to be warm & to be someone not stopping & going-- somewhere with a windowsill to lean on & watch the snow from-- pretend that it will all never melt or turn to ugly slush seeping into my socks-- when i say i want to go home i think i'm thinking of my bed & my three layers of blankets & my uncleaned coffee mug still in the sink-- it's the tiny things you realize you miss when you're stuck in christmas lights-- entangled in each other-- how long have we been tail-lights & how red are we now? & are the other cars around us real or just a large amount of ghosts also traveling home from philadelphia against their better judgement on a friday night-- peer into their windows-- their shadow mothers faces pale in iPhone light-- children with their noses pressed to back windows-- breathe fog-- finger print-- their radio-less sounds-- their silent-- pantomime lives-- each seem to move slower & slower-- oh i believe in all these ghosts-- will they follow me home when i figure out where that is? will they roll down their windows & let the snow over come them-- that what i want to do-- open the doors & abandon the car in the middle of the grey grey highway-- weave between ghost to the side of the road where the massive silhouette of the city smiles down at her front porch of tail-lights-- hands in her pockets-- sky-scrapers tall-- she teaches us how to fall gently like snow or sea gull feathers-- feet held up by water-- we transverse the schuykill river & boat house row gives us her murky grin-- wet socks drying on the heater-- we are home in our christmas light veins & somewhere the car still rolls forward-- ushered along by the other ghosts on the express-- every time we go into the city it snows & we can't escape but yes i still think of kissing you-- blizzard blinded by love or maybe it was just the snow-- follow my tail-lights home