--MY HEAD’S UNDERWATER

...I wrote these today:

 Life Support

But first

There is the end

The tugging and nudging

The push and pull

Of past voices

Trying to remind you of

What you once were

The miles you’ve traveled

A billion breaths taken

An atlas etched into your face

As if by a hasty sculptor

Listen to me if you can

In the end we begin again

Two souls entwined

Though loosely

Like sheer scarves

Dancing with the wind

The Clouds Spell Surrender

The way this works

Is you disavow me

Destroy my charms and confidence

Whether by blowtorch or machete

The trees tell me you’ve tested negative

The water wants to warn me about your friends

There is only so much plasma in a human body

I leave mine on the bedroom floor

In the driveway

The woods

On a jagged stretch of road

Leading straight to Birmingham

Along the way the sun

Nudges my knees like a needy dog

The clouds spell surrender

But I do not

 August Noon

Our souls at night

Remind us

Of half-formed girls

How they tittered birdlike

Under sweeping willow tree limbs

That August Noon

With their Fruit-of-the-Loom’s

Bleached white as painted fences

Looking back now

Feels like an arm is reaching up

Through my throat

No mercy spared

No mercy asked for

Stretching and groping

Trying to reclaim something from the past

That was taken from someone else

Unwillingly

Full Moon

The sun is adamant that I’m wrong

The moon is an accuser

Which is why

I’ve drawn the blinds and have

Unplugged every cord and wire

My wife arrives after nine

Late like yesterday

And the day before

She reeks of Polo cologne

Frog legs and garlic

Gives me a swift kiss

Asks have I noticed that the moon

Is full and blue-white

Like our bed sheets

Anniversary

There are no rivers here

Only deep pockets of caked mud

Walrus tusks

And bird’s eyes

Pecked out by other famished birds

This is how it goes

Seventh year

Seventh death by seventh death

Happy Anniversary, Baby

Congratulations

We made it