Wisconsin, fine--
We sit on state lines.
Across the street, Rodeo Drive.
Move a little bit
and East L.A. makes you feel alive.

Go to the diner
where the mermaids wear aprons
and hold out menus like personal stock.
Where the surfer-rama drama in the diner deep
allows them to let go of those they keep.

And you and me and those we love,
keep us finite, because why not.
I could tell you how to eat your waffles
if you will be the spoon that stirs my coffee.

Listen to me,
"Rachel, there's no one, right now,
that I'd rather sit and eat breakfast with than you.
And if it doesn't work out,
and we choke on our meals, that's fine.
I just want to try when I'm with you."

We exchange glances
and I'm sure, then,
that I adore the aplomb,
for your smile leads myself
into believing and being more.

We used to make paper planes
as flimsy as our confidence.
Nothing ever flew the same,
smothered by the thawing sky.
We counted the seconds
until rain ate their bodies,
"5,6,7,8".

Too afraid to go outside,
mom and dad are gone.
Hovering hips beside
the holes in our walls.
Staring out the window
as foggy breath falls.

Seaweed salad and water
before we sleep.
Thinking about
if the paper graves
are as deep  
as the cheap cliches
in our head.

Ten years ago today I said goodbye to Tess my golden Labrador

*Tess was fourteen when I had to say goodbye
When I got up on that morning I knew
She looked at me with her sad brown eyes
Said its time to let me go
Time to hold me, kiss me, send me on my way
Tears were in my eyes as I held her close
Not tears of shame but salt tears of remorse
Could I have done any more
To prolong that doggy life
Probably not, she knew it was her time to die
I held her close as the young vet slid the needle in
And just before she breathed her last
She lifted her head and layed it on my arm
Salt tears on my cheeks as I said my last goodbye
Ten years ago today when my Tess breathed her last
But now the Mollie dog is fading
Grey faced instead of black
I know the bitter tears will come again
When she takes her final rest

meteorites in fire display, create an ingenious word craft
***** sky  frenziedly reads the amorous request, shudders,
swift, transparent cloud, embraces the lonesome gloomy moon,
she is falling in to pieces, desire drives a knife of pain through her heart.