El Diablito/birthday song
I just never believed in him
my body was not the earth
spooning molasses from the jar with the yellow label
pretending a storybook winter
we too traversed the continent from east to west and back again
and now what?
at a near edge of, as you put it, an old sea
older than springtime, someone sang, younger than the hills
and if some aficionado of my mess
well, you know
little
spiders, fresh syntax
inventory, August 29th
boxes & boxes of my
days &
letters
dust my
hours a wallet
hair my
minutes & cards
of membership
photographs the
hands strings of
numbers
ticket stubs which
lifted agreements
programs &
set down again my signature
coins wrote
& that year
rubber bands withered that year
paper clips a
skin is being slipped that summer
you walk out along the sea at the equalizing hour
when or
none, or few
white
& blue against
a
list of evening pigments
at
a certain time of year
everything
is water
letters,
a ladder
the
lace that flashes
for a second in the light
inventory, June 15th
1
news of a supermarket
2
6,000 miles
3
a few hieroglyphs
4
heartthrob
5
palimpsest
6
why
didn’t you tell me?
7
box of insects
8
brands of dry vermouth
9
he
was a character
10 stolen details
11 all
wars are boyish
12 blueberry pie
13 no
one to drive
14 supreme court decisions
15 nurses
16 needles
17 old television shows
18 flavors of jello
19 I like the red ones
20 & lime of course
21 so
refreshing
22 summer again
23 so green
the subject of that chapter is memory
ice cream a dog a game a
woman coming into the room hair an ice rink bees his pencil sharpener an
airplane train station some flowers money an elevator the offices the pavement
a suitcase cars maps the roads a streetcar the songs the perfume a dress some
stockings cigarettes record player morning the coffee a Christmas a train a tree
a dance fish sky tools clouds their shadows the books some stories a typewriter
record player hand two hands a voice some lyrics a suitcase a woman a dress the
coffee an elevator the folders the light
la escalera
cabinet of curiosities trick
printed in China
do you like poetry? palm
water falls
again
today cuff
&
someone has left a red ladder
against
my wall button
eating
corn from the jar
wondering
about a scale of numbers lifeline
as
a child I believed in parrots loveline
someone sang
horses
sweet
lemons no. 21
book
autumn the right one
straw
& crows
now
you are the only thing the one you
I
believe in stumble
over
someone sang
can’t forget
es lo que hay
someone sang
