making room

the photos came down

she disappeared

except in my inbox

in my dreams she

hates me in my

home she is gone

do we still speak?

you ask

i don’t want to speak

i want your skin

you are inside my

rooms you take up

space you have three

dimensions i don’t

want stillness i

don’t want speaking

come here now your

worry is an air-filled

globe but your body

is the actual the earth

it’s the earth i want

not photos not maps

________________________

how to start the affair

pay for the hostel

in cash

for the hostel

in cash

pay for

one night

or one hour

your best bet

is a brief wager

no

your best bet

is to cash out

________________________

praying twice

when i sing i don’t know where it goes

except out

it goes out for cigarettes

out for a drink

for blood

it’s not for god

the peace that passes all understanding

out of my body then

out of my life

sing your sorrows, they say

it’s like praying twice

i don’t know where it goes

________________________

the wound

the first time I took you

home

I wanted

you

to love

yourself—

you were a wide open well

and I was salt

bags and bags of

salt

rubbing

dissolving

I could have

melted ice

barricaded floods

I had all the ingredients and

packaging but

I wasn’t anything

in your body

rubbing

dissolving

just salt

________________________

my lover shaves his face

I named his stubble

he attended to stubble

I roll, watch from the dark

he razored the shadow

two o’clock in the morning

Jesus is the rock and he rolls

my blues away. Close shave

back in bed, smooth skin

slipping in. Stubble said,

done. My blues away

________________________

SPOKANE SHOCKS

they say we have a football team now

the shocks

go shocks!

but then they say

“we’re having a nice spring”

i’m outside the we

53º

they say your social security number

tells where you’re born

9:27 PM 4/13

deaconess hospital

i still root for the home team

if we don’t win it’s a shame

99203

509

i never liked football

212

+33 +34

57º tomorrow

highs and lows and leagues

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