bones not thrones

higher power is wrong

names lead one awry

these powers we speak of

don't live in the sky 

they don't come from space

there's no heaven or throne

it's  all in the dirt 

in our ancestors bones

jar full of buttons

jar full of buttons
that I can not loose
pinks greens and blues
that I'll never use

that jar full of buttons
must be never lost
whatever the cost
not misplaced or tossed

although the blouse
long since thrown out
that cardigan
in the salvies bin

but the buttons remain
hellman's jar contained
on grandma's old hutch
untouched

BC Ring

as a kid i

hold dad's hand

and slip off heavy 

college ring

learn to spin it

spin so hard it

turns up on

its ruby thing

faster going

smudgy words see

scratching table

swirling sings

slowing swobbles

tips then stillness

up on to

his hand again

Marathon

New York and Boston
Separate but steadfast
Twin Sisters feeling
Where the sibling has been

Brows slightly furrowed
Aware of their shadows
Whites of their eyes
More exposed now, than then

New York to Boston
No threat keeps us parted
Sisters to meet
When the bus travels in

Mapped out and plotted 

Not how we thought it

Would be but we got it 

Together again

Six on a Stoop

at six on a stoop
it feels like forever
to jump three steps
till the dog comes home

at six on a stoop
I wait for my mother
till the lights come on
till the meat's off the bone

and the dinner's getting colder
will be scraped off the plate
to a bin lined with plastic
never loved, never ate

Soup Phase and Toupees

I am entering my soup phase
start dating guys with toupees
all I can turn is a phrase
not heads in barrooms these days

Time spent in the shower
clocks way under an hour
no lipstick, rouge or powder
no bow, no purse, no flower

Why bother dressing my hair
no landscaping way down there
for sure got secret underwear
(victorian might be right on the money)

Don't give a rip what you think
although I just used parentheses
please don't take it personally
it's so not about you, honey

I don't seek random flattery
just bring on soup by the tureen
salty ritz crackers by the sleeve
and loads of back up batteries

Time Management

I am through investing time
I refuse to play that market
I give up expecting something
as in trying just to win

I will not end up down
with more in closets than I've given
holding court around deluded sense
of stopping earth to spin

Time is not transactional
returning on investment
cheap and hoarding out of focus
wanting, needing scraping in

If not given away always
these will cease to be before you
Generosity, Love, Time
are all liable to dim

Untie strings that are attaching
that pull back what you are giving
let it go and give it freely
only then will life begin

David

I was 20 plus
spilling through windows
tipping tipsy from fireless escapes
tearing through a corset in motion

Making such a fuss
to curve between shadows
then pissed I couldn't be traced
despite blood coursing with poison

Dropping whispers for David
clanking down 16 darkened flights
to black streets and tail lights
all yearning and pointing to the ocean

Leg skin pulled on brick unshaved
sandal fall to sleep-sick pavement
stranger's cat over skirt then sill
trading spots with haunting jazz thrills

Unfortunate hat.

A visitor leaned
And whispered
In my skull
"What an unfortunate hat"
Focused my dart
On a nearby traveler's crown

Automatic it seemed
Once deciphered
Void and null
"And she's really fat at that"
Twisted my heart
From a small pink balloon to a frown

Executed, judged and juried
Aimed and fired
Trigger pull
"SHE'S ASKING FOR IT"
Kamikaze pilot
When my defenses are down

More cheese.

It must be time to write
Like clockwork lit by refrigerator bulb
Head in the Tupperware with ass in air
Like so many ducklings river feeding
Blank pages illuminate and provoke from a table
once, maybe once used for dining
Blank pages peek over stacks of old bills, jars of bloodless pens, cans of foreign coins,
unowned tiny torn phone numbers

Come sit here, SIT, sit here, come
Sit HERE and feed
This is what you're looking for
You, from your desert Island
You are looking the wrong way
believing the ocean you see will drown you
Wasting time thinking of learning to swim, thinking of rafts, thinking of smoke
smoke signals, waiting for someone to rescue

to STOP
There is another, other

Can YOU hear me, you CAN hear me,
WAKE UP (you pretend to sleep)

just turn around, turn, turn around, Just
PAY ATTENTION (that will never nourish you)

Behind you, RIGHT HERE, IS a world of EVERYTHING.

YOU'RE MISSING.

Hear me, me, hear me, let me
out