Salma

At first
I thought you had lost
your mind-
breast feeding some strangers baby
out of some
celebrity
excess.

out of extreme arrogance-
but
i was wrong.

instead
it was a African baby
in sierra leon,
whose mother had no milk.


it was such a human act.

an act of a mother,
it requires no explanation-

to have to explain-
would be failure
on the part of the person needing reasons,
and
for not asking
why the baby
was hungry in
the first
place.

09'

a limited time offer

I have a real soft spot
in my heart for
red heads.

a real soft spot.

scientist say they are becoming rarer-
like the Pinta Island Tortoise, the Javan Rhino, and good manners.

I heard they may go the way of the Dodo in about
fifty years.

I must work fast.
the planet has granted them like
a limited time offer.

Get them while supplies last.


09'

Wino forever

like all normal people,
I got the urge to write a
Winona Ryder
poem,

i totally had this Johny Depp
tattoo theme idea-
you know where he gets the Winona Forever tattoo
and then has to
change it to Wino forever,
it was going to be alittle on the mean side-

Well anyways,
while brainstorming
I realized I don't hate her-

I have a complex emotional feeling towards
Winona, but I had a good premise for a poem, that I
didn't want to go to waste-

I didn't know what to do,
or write,
so I wrote this.

luckily
poems don't have to be permanent
I can change my mind,
and write something new-
go in a different direction,

its not like having Wino Forever on
my body,
like an idiot.

09'

the gate

I am building a gate,
from scratch

and it makes
me feel like a man.

growing up
my father would mirco-manage
any project.

it was torture.

after his strokes
he no longer
could build
with his hands.

I have become the builder now.

he stops me and tries to take
control of the project-
supervision-
management-
dictator-

he ask if i know what i
am doing.

I know what i am doing.
I will build a beautiful
gate,
after all you have taught me
well-
as you can see I have already
built a perfect wall
between us.


09'

My New Favorite Song

"I come home- she lifted up her wings,
guess that this must be the place
I can't tell one from another-
Did I find you or did you find me?" -D.B



It is a naive melody
and
confuses me,
taunts me-
and
is just fucking with me.

tenderly-

it's leading the rodents out of town,
and later comes
back for the children

It's playing a trick
all smoke and mirrors.

i know its not there.

but it fills up the hole inside anyways.

my head begins to move in time
and out of tune-

I want to feel
like this.

( no longer kicking
and screaming...)

I want to feel this way,
about anyone-
but I don't.

my new favorite song-
doesn't care-
and fills up the hole anyway.

09'

Smartest guy in the room

I am not the
smartest guy
in the room.

I do not even know
what that
would mean.

there is so very
much i
do not know.

but i do
know
that i don't want
to be here
and I know I
don't want to meet your friends.

a pretty face, small breast and skinny limbs
had
rendered me temporarily
mentally incapacitated.

dumb in fact. or stupid. take your pick.

a pretty face
will do that.

I shouldn't be making any major decisions,
I shouldn't try to get to know you-
fuck
I shouldn't operate heavy machinery,
let alone have driven here.

Honey-
I am not who you think I am.

I am actually a moron, lummox, a galoot

and you're trouble.

the smartest
guy in the room
is the first to
head for the door.

and it just happened to be me.

09'

white coat pencil skirt

They've been sticking pins in me for awhile now-
trying to cure my blues.

Been drinking thier witches brew-

[to not only see the daylight, but feel it-]

I've been seeing men in white coats for awhile now.
"Same time next week gentlemen."
they say i'm getting better-


She was walking around outside in a white coat and pencil skirt- the first time
I saw her.

It was the skirt that got my attention-
[she had style for a young woman.

She wore her hair skillfully -
the way
a girl wearing a pencil skirt would- ]

I wait in the waiting room,
sometimes half expecting to see her-

and for awhile I thought coincidence smiled on me-

today she just held her glance sitting in another room-
and came over to say hello-

they say i'm getting better-


I feel better-
I feel good.

"Same time next week gentlemen.-
Same time next week Miss."

09'

Beat

Life is a song-

my heart keeps time and
beats along perfectly
with that song.

tonight
my heart played along to the song of fear-
as I tried to revisit the past-
percussion
pumping and
pounding
performing-
perfectly,
it puts on a show-
plays the song of fear-

I know this song and my
heart continues to play it until
i hear and feel the next-
BEAT

the song of calm
it plays a gentler beat-
soothing calming

the drummer knows all the songs,
from pain to pleasure
lover to loss- fight or flight-

the drummer drops a dope ass beat
to this
epic song of life-

my heart
plays to the beat of a different drummer

different in so many delicious distinctions
different in so many disguises
destined to deliver
[because I'm not beat yet]

my heart
plays to the beat of a different drummer
and that
drummer is me-

09'

Dig

It's not worth it to take a cheap dig at you.

I've dug deep
and
there wasn't
anything there.

don't feel disappointed-
even cheap perfume,
[ by any other name or dig would smell the same]

09'

walk smile rinse repeat

How many times are you gonna walk by and

smile, before something happens

How many smiles is it gonna take before,
i just begin to
start talking-

How much talking is gonna take
before i ask-

Well, at this rate honey,
i'll be cured before you can try and fix me

in the mean time,
i'll take as many smiles from a pretty girl
as I can get
for a rainy day-

and it rains alot.


09'

Blink

Blink 182 is everything you say they are-

I enjoy them anyways.

A guilty pleasure
but a pleasure none the less.

you had to be there.
young,
juvenile,
and teenage
discovering music for the first time.
and there was never enough.

You knew every music scene
from your room in the valley-

they were from
San Diego
like
Lucy's Fur Coat,
and Rocket from the Crypt,

before MTV,
they were another punk loser band from San Diego

before MTV
they were funny
immature
and fun.

the rebel girls,
had made it all too serious

music was far too serious.

it was nice to remember
why being young
male
and dumb
were fun.

they were punks,
madcap,
juvenile-

They are everything you say they are-
no matter how wrong you are,
were,
and always will be.


09'