October 2023

but you can’t keep everything.

You can only enter the sleepless
 rooms repeating, more slowly

& in alphabetical order

the names of birds: albatross bunting cormorant dove. Albatross
 bunting cormorant

instead of your dead friends
don’t you mean?

Mean egret. Mean grackle. Mean humming.
Keep humming. Keep jay.

Say kingfisher....

I crawled to the front door and swung it open so the ambulance could find me. It seemed like a strange thing to do, since I hadn’t called for an ambulance, so I crawled to the end of the sidewalk...

I couldn’t be who I am
today if it wasn’t for you
being dead. It was time
for glitter, nail polish, and locs.
Glitter in my nail polish.
Glitter in my locs.
You wouldn’t have
loved me loving myself;
my joy rendered
inconvenience.
Sucked teeth keeping me
your grandson.
My love for...