Ugly started the moment air filled lungs

Making breath

That finally became wails

Hollering heavy and hollow

Into an already upside down world

Something completely ugly made us

Unless beautiful is unto perfect

And perfect is unto unique

And unique

Is the pattern of pock marks

A bitter snowflake reminder

Of the days my blemished face has bled enough

A broken pattern of scars

From the cancer

And first suicide attempts

And tattoos

That remind us

Whatever is left behind

And is still standing

Is permanent

Including me

Beauty is unto statues crumbling

Still standing

Despite times blunt chisel tip

Let’s be broken down to perfection

Because there’s all this beauty inside

Inside awkward snowflake patterns

Of nervous breath

Making my voice break

During the days when I need to be the most confident

Like when I finally tell you

I love you

And mean it

This messed up mound of flesh

Was given life for a reason

Even if it is just to love

Whoever is around to be loved

I can do that

Despite the hand tremors

And broken toothed smiles

And bitter snowflake reminders

Of ****** up fingerprints

Smudging everything

I touch

I can do that

Because this

This is as beautiful as any of us are going to get

And I am cool with that

Sit silently
hear the wind blow
the cars pass by
they move slow
slow
sitting there silent
you hear the sound
an ambulance comes you pace the ground
as you watch yourself lay there hopeless
limp
you try to scream out
as you see them come to your side
put you on the stretcher
take you and sigh
trying to fix whats been broken so many times before
now you await fate as they close the door
of the ambulance white with red on the sides
this is the last of your heartbreak
no longer will you cry
tears of frustration of his idiocy
*now my dear you are set free

live today
breath right now
leave everything else behind
live your life
with out regret
and forget about that time
when everything crashed all around
but now just live
live today and be free

And that night I was a mechanical doll
and I turned right and left, to all sides
and I fell on my face and broke to bits,
and they tried to put me together with skillful hands
And then I went back to being a correct doll
and all my manners were studied and compliant.
But by then I was a different kind of doll
like a wounded twig hanging by a tendril.
And then I went to dance at a ball,
but they left me in the company of cats and dogs
even though all my steps were measured and patterned.
And I had golden hair and I had blue eyes
and I had a dress the color of the flowers in the garden
and I had a straw hat decorated with a cherry.



Translated from the original Hebrew by Karen Alkalay-Gut.

I stir one
tablespoon of honey
in with the sarcasm. (Sip
) This is how I hope God’s
cup of poison tastes: pungent,
earthy, and delightfully warm going
down. I smile and
say to you, *I like this. It’s
bitter.

american spirit in your mouth and
english breakfast in your mug
here at the café kitty corner from the
bank—
the echo of your swan song
rebounding from the concrete exoskeleton
of this desiccated city
curled in on itself like
paint chips and
parchment
like bright blue coleoptera in a dusty corner
of the attic.

my words taste like
whiskey left out too long;
they are worse
going back down.

Simple thought.
Beautifully phrased random line.
Expansion on simple thought, no rhyming.
Abstract theory.
Troubling question.

Simple thought.
Pretty words.
Really abstract thought that doesn't belong!
Super elusive sentence structure.
Less invasive thought.
Something overheard from the people next to you in Starbucks.
Simple thought.
Simple thought.
Pretty word(s).
Super confusing theory to leave reader with no choice but to call this poem a masterpiece.

I’m, I don’t know-
lonely I guess. Stretched out  
warming myself in a pool of sunlight-
would just like to be held.
Not longing for
new love
or a one true love-
they’re all true enough
at the time.
No, not love.
Not now.

You smell like ***
Between happy covers
Stained with our joy and love.

I love you so much
That when I kiss you
I’m smiling.
I put my hand
On the inside of your thigh
And brush accidentally
Against a trail of slime.
It’s like a snail
Crawled up your leg
And left a path
Of my sticky love tears.

You look at me and giggle
And soon like an STD
I catch it too
And we laugh like a pair of happy idiots
In each other’s arms.