Here in the Wind
The wind drowns out the words
swirling, interweaving,
pulsing in my head
I stand at the top
with cars below
the honking is dizzying
Feet unsteady
legs limp
hands outstretching
An ambulance whines
obstructed by selfish drivers
consumed by oblivion
Frigid air
sets pimples on my skin
and escapes into the night
A cold sweat on my temples
ushered by my racing heart
and that knot in my stomach
I try to remember
what carried me here
to this moment
in the wind
Pathological
A gun to his heart
a bullet struck a rib on its way
to the living room wall
I knew a boy
struck by lightening in the third grade
and again in the fourth
In April my legs gave way
like a rainy day
I tumbled down the cliffside
I suspect she killed her husband
last autumn, in the evening
I heard crunching
A beam of light
cut through the tree line
and took the cow across the pier
I was birthed speaking
syllabic sentences
and passionate paragraphs
My first words were,
“Don’t trust a thing,”
because it’s pathological, I promise
All of It
I’ve got you
Don’t look down
at the enormity of it all
at everything to do
at everything you might not do
at everything you don’t want to do
at all the things you regret
at all the things you don’t
the mistakes
the failures
the greatest fears
the mortifying moments
and painful memories
that don’t dull like they should
in the cracks
of your deepest insecurities
where lies the secrets
I hold them too
Don’t look down
I’ve got you
New Perfume, Same Promises
That ring was a symbol
unity on my finger
All the times you said you loved me
words of undying truth
Quiet moments in the mornings
holding me in your arms
laughing by the fire
gazing at the sun turning amber
then a mellowed purple
Did you mean it when you slid
it on my finger
called me yours
promised me forever?
I thought we fit
like jigsaw grooves
but in your bed is another
and I can’t stand their perfume
I despise you.
What’s worse than false promises
the I love you’s
and blood diamonds
Are the promises you make
to that woman with her perfume
