a latin dance party
tears through my kitchen
I showed my sister
the stem in my teeth
said this is how to bury me
she said when I die
I want to be made into fireworks
or scattered over the sea
or there in the basement parlors
heart straying within the lines
staring upstairs where the toad
plays chess, the snow falls
covers the gazebo; its nightgown
a christmas light explodes a jack-o-lantern
timbers lean on one another
it's a scene of dilapidation, nighttime
rivers, bowling alleys
a bright gas station in a vacant downtown
cats knocking over candles behind
windows workers carols,
hippie strands lifeless moonlight
her hair is like the rope in gym class
the knotted rope I never climbed
lifeless in the moonlight
pale bodies easily seen
at nighttime even paradise unwinds its sprinklers
and hedgehogs fill the slip'n'slides with quills
and the tree's canopy hums a purple melody
branches sway as a bus exhaust
dances away its chains
we slept with our clothes on,
never dreamed of the obvious
how I miss my time on those
ships i have to remember
that it made me sick, queasy
in the noisy sunset vision of angels
in the snow a new year's prayer
on the radio I met November's stare
with a flair gun, a feather boa stealer
sifting through the rubble.
(written January 2003)
