in all the photos
he was a young man -
my father

handsome and smiling
a useful smile

i tried to find one from later
when he was a bystander
on my street -

older, unsmiling, obsolete
- there were none

i wish i had known
how he felt

now that i do.

r ~ 11/25/14

It's not much of the
missed calls and unanswered messages.

It's just that at 7am,
when the birds sung,
it was almost as if they were mimicking your voice.

At 3pm,
I was searching for your face
in the oceans of people.

And finally at 2am,
instead of drifting to sleep,
my mind drifts back to you.

Then I thought,
missing you is the most divine way of obliteration.

Said Hamlet to Ophelia,
'I'll do a sketch of thee,
What kind of pencil shall I use,
2B or not 2B?'

Oh, how I wish you still called
To hear that crack in your voice
Flaws and all
You were still my first choice.

Oh, how I wish you still called
To talk the fears back
Because since we fell off
It brought the tears back.

The comforted words you spoke*
The *life in your laugh
All the memories I have to revoke
Brings all the pain back.

she said she fell
for the drunk me -

well, i liked me
that way-better, too

how very sad
- but true

i'd drink again
if i knew i could -
if it would do any good

- to lick her sweat
one drop at a time
all along the jawline

- making her salt mine
one more time.

r ~ 11/15/15

Please make love to me.