Never forget
there is poetry in dirt
in greens, in beets,
especially in rutabagas.
Three-dollar-a-bag spinach,
you are a symphony of compost
with which an old man’s teeth are smitten;
Rosemary sprig, beneath all your flavor
you are the staff-lines of a madrigal written
in loving anticipation of the mason jars, weighed down with water
where you will grow and swell and bud and spread out strong purple flowers which say
that you are part of a song which sings
every year
a little louder.

This coming September, I will miss you dearly.
I will be days of travel away from your roots, your mist,
your six-in-the-morning-before-classes tonic of rain
which saturates my skin so good I’m surprised when I shake the dirt from the leeks
all over my bare feet & you don’t crop up green & white from between my toes,
that my arms don’t grow heavy with peppers
after they cake with jalapeno & bell seeds from all the half-rotten
to whom I have given baptism to in shallow plastic tubs of water
floating like elations of fire
in the grayness of the morning.

Know how to tell if a pepper’s rotten? Wash it & shake it
& if you can hear the water swishing inside,
if you can make a maraca of its innards,
then give it back to the dirt.

This is the wisdom of peppers:
when you grow soft
when you have been chosen
& plucked,
& washed
& thoroughly loved
& shaken,

when you have called out like fire
beside your brothers in a basin,

lay down in the compost
the kindly compost,
& listen, just listen,
(there will be nothing left to do
but listen)

to the poetry of dirt.

A smile says a million things.

A frown shys away from the world.

My tears bring a billion together and we can make some type of change.

My every move spells "I love you."

Your every word says "I don't want you."

Your smile says otherwise.

You know this.

So why not just confess you love me too?

Why kill something innocent
Just because it isn't to your liking
Why step on someone's dream
Just because it isn't yours
Why ruin someone's chance
Just because you didn't get one
Why swat the spider sitting in the corner
Just because you think it's ugly
Why trip the runner
Just because you aren't as fast
Why push someone down
Just because they're taller than you

You: Want to go get stoned?

Me: No...

You: Want to get drunk?

Me: No..

You: Want to go beat someone up?

Me: No.

You: Want to get beat up for being an asshole?

Me: Yes.

Just kill me. I will truly be alive then.

I am getting tired of the sea
every morning, whispering, “duermete”
like we are lovers
who kept each other awake all night.

To wish her goodbye…
say, I am leaving Miami, him, not you.

Reminded it is not just love that can sweep
someone off their feet –
also thinking I left some of my food
in his refrigerator, two gallons of milk gift.

I believe I will return,
not for liquid, not for anything tangible
just a redo of our last embrace
without an ocean of salt lulling every

goddamn thing,
and I believe I exist in there somewhere –
sea-wide, seaside, we rest just us.

Please justify your actions.
Give me some reason, and make it a good one, for what you did.
Did you just feign happiness?
Did you feed me lies that you knew would go straight from my ears to my heart,
Skipping over my head entirely?
Why?
What purpose did you have?
And why, now that it's all over, do you insist upon making me feel like the villain?
You refuse to look at me, like I'm Medusa ready to turn you to stone.
But the only look you'll see on my face is a hurt confusion.
The anger went away quickly, and now there's this utterly perplexing hole left behind,
Because I still don't know why.
I know you were happy.
I know you genuinely cared about me, and us.
So what happened?
What broke in your mind, making you run away without so much as a backwards glance ?
Nothing changed until you decided it should.
So give me just one reason, and make it a good one.

Dam I need a blunt,
can't put up with this cunt,
I'm fealin a new person
My heart just feals like cursin...

I've bin hear,
in this new home,
sober a new rome,
If i had my shear bong
you'd sure  would hear a cheer song.
I'd feal you out so happy,
have my words churned out to sappy?.
I'm way out,
    I'm not burned,
I get it I sure learned
far out mars rover,
spot me out like your'e lucky clover,
out in a big croud
I'm rare like a drout  cloud,
like I said,
I miss my bed,
eatin all day,
    freakin all may,
Give it a doobie a precious fuckin ruby
Not lit Not fit
can-I-Just-quit?.

How bout a bubble and a bowl,?
no trouble nore parol,
you know i'm slick won't get in no shit,
just help a nigga out and blow me a hit.
  I love my jane we plan to mary
when she's gone my world gets scary..
So be it if i'm sketchy,
I'm posted monalisa ,
see me on the wall,
touch me and I'll fall,
  trust I see it all,
you walk right out the door and leave me on this floor,
I've seen it as it's low thats why I tend to flow,
Best of what I know is what minds like to show..
don't come back that lock is latched,
   holdin steady bit attatched,
I need a hook to hold me steady.
some one strong that will be ready,

When I get in a car
and I look out the windows
I see faces of full storied people

and I create scenes in my head
about what their lives are like
so I pretend that the man in the corvette
is going to pick up his daughter that he
hasnt seen in months

and the girl driving the truck
is going to the mall
so she can buy a dress for
her highschools annual mini ball

and the family in the mini van
is going on vacation
to a beach in florida
but first they have to stop at the
gas station

but this is all in my head
and none of it is probably true

the man is probably buying some ciggerettes
while the girl most likely goes to see a boy
to give him lots of sex
and the family is going out to eat
at an arbys but the dad just lost
his job so he cant buy his two daughters
anymore barbies

but thats also in my head so im not really sure
and so I stare at the window until I think some more

and there's a wreck on the side of I-35
so I take a moment inside my soul
to wish whoever goodbye
and I picture their lover at
their funeral
clenching chin about ready to cry
but maybe I'm just overthinking
maybe they made it out alive

at the nearest stop light
in my favorite city
sits a homeless man at the corner
clenching a sign scribbled with
"Will take any"

We keep on driving
it starts to rain on the way
I wonder what the homeless man
is thinking as he's drenched in
gods dismay

and the sky is crying hard now
for the lives of the full-storied people
but maybe thats all in my head

because in 20 minutes its sunny
I get out of the car
and forget what I thought

say you miss me
i wanna feel it when you kiss me
don't just say it baby
show me