Great Grandmother

We could not see her young
We could not see her young.

My sister, my sister,
and I, reluctant
only saw her when she was twisted
knotted buried
with her eyes on God and her feet
wishing she was done walking.

She travelled more than
I ever will,
Pennsylvania, to Lithuania,
back again, rinse and repeat.
Aching to see anyone
who shared her adenine.

My sister, my sister
and I, fortunate
shared her guanine and cytosine
along with 75
children of children of children
leaving no doubt it was time for her to go.

She had a sharp mind
and I carry on
though the strokes may be different,
in the end
her brain twisted, her heart knotted,
and she was buried when she was done walking.

whether or not yellow is a property of a banana

Blackjack leaps into the pudding.
Is yellow a property of a banana?
Mushy, perhaps, but yellow is not the
Property of anyone.

Blackjack is crying now.
Too many lost double downs,
Too little aces.
His guardian angel puts down
Her best hand of the night,
And tries to comfort him.

Blackjack leaves the table.
He attaches himself to the spectacle,
Fond of the sequins.
His angel chases him down,
Saying, next year we go to Disney.

Blackjack climbs out of the pudding.
"Come back here!" the bookie screams at him.
Blackjack tips his hat,
Chomps on his banana,
And goes to find some real yellow somewhere else.

Rt. 34, Corner Store

I am sugar.
I am crunchy, fragile and bite-sized,
Falling apart at any tremor of fist.
I disguise my sweet waffle pattern
with a normal beige-brown coloring.
He is oversized, pale white, and gives me purpose.
I hold him up and he
melts over the edge of me at every curve.
But we remain the blandest form of dessert.

$1.30 for a small, $1.80 for a large
Sometimes I think we cost $9.50.
For all that, you.d think,
we could have some sprinkles.

Life Cycle

Girls pound a nail into each foot
with the hopes of seeing eye-to-eye with a man

Once they succeed, they are cocooned in white silk
so that the man will like them less when they come out

Their children have speakers direct
So that they can tell their mother what to do

As the offspring gain mass, there is a critical error,
and they reject the commands from the father

And once the parents become creased from use
they are boxed back up and put away
so that they have only each other to look at.

statement of purpose

i spiral through the universe like a spastic monkey
in desperate need of some ritalin
yet i still look for my green my blue
my tan tan beautiful man
who will take me home
and light me up
and won't listen to a word they say
when they try to put me on their medicine
shock me up and bring me down
shackle me to the prescription clock
i saw what they did to Eliza
and i bent over while she was still herself
she clenched the sheet between
her ring and pinky fingers
don't let them stop you she said
and i haven't
although sometimes i still worry
i am just the current
in a rich man's pond
on his nine hole private golf course

rebels

true rebellion hides in alleys
and in wastepaper baskets
tied to the ideas that stay
in clockworks, unspoken
not in those dyed pink locks
big black boots
obscene gestures at an imaginary
motherfucking
why are you looking at me
because i look different
fantastic viewing audience
everyone feels the differences growing inside of them
the separation of church and state
of soul and body
of reality and fantasy
of the spotless mr. clean universe
that pervades the outside
and those dark sewers that make you
just another twisted fuck
and, and, there is that other dissonance
between the once you, the was you
and the actions you perform now
there are no noun, no objects
nothing but a collection of actions
pinging off of each other in kinetic nightmare
bullet in a steel room
just dodge this one more round
until the true rebels drag you out
show you where the innovation party is
bring you into their alleys
so you can think outside
the dumpster you've been living in.

she flashes

The galaxy flows through her, rushes through her
Electricity in a transformer and we are the
Atoms and eves bouncing around and changing
Nanoseconds pass, and they are the eternities we were waiting for
I look at him and then look to the sky to see her
She tells me it is hopeless then winks
Just in case I hadn't gotten the hint
A quick breeze rushes under my skirt and lifts it up two inches
I turn and stand on my tiptoes to look at something in the distance
He pretends not to notice
But I know now she's looking out for me
I may want him, but I need her.

statistics

it's my standard error;
faith
the suns spent in patterns
reverb repeat reverb
mixing science with its antimatter

it's my outlier;
truth
the orbits spent in hibernation
breath speak breathe
wrecking perception with cyanide

it's my independence;
inference
every minute spent reborn
fade remember fade
revealing self with probabilitie

upstate

old bridges old farms
rusty rails musty cellars
there is no promise that it can keep
even politicans know better than to visit
such a place that wants you to stay
chained to a kitchen table
with one leg painted green
in a double parked double wide
oh you can go to college
drag that antique to education
education educates you that you don't matter
so have a sweet baby girl
to keep you warm on those frozen nights
because her daddy isn't going to help
he's got a job, and another at the bar
someone has to be in charge
of drinking labatts and fixing the buick
it's the kind of place your heart passes by
it's the kind of place your daughter goes to die