~for patty m.~
and all the others that surrender their truths
word by word by word
~

get paid by the word.

nothing particularly relevant-familiar to a poet-revenant.

we the Falstaffs, the literate fools of the world,
pay and pay on, pay forwards and backwards

once eons ago, in a confession blurted,
in a moment of spent outrageous misfortune:

”what you did not ask was this!

With each passing poem,
I am lessened within, expurgated,
In a sense part of me, expunged,
Part of me, passing too,
Every poems birth diminishes me.”

this is our only pay-out & pay-meant methodology.

your admirers are unlimited by geography or name,
but only by imagination

~for Albert’s wife~
~~~

the tattoos on my body, a complete list
of the seven names^ shared with a heavenly human,
who pretends he has no
skin in the game

but that is a poem for another time...

you thank me for being a “follower”

unnecessary for your admirers are unlimited
by geography or name,
(and all the sliced and diced human pieces deem greater than the
whole)
we are limited only by imagination

whatever name you/I choose,
what we/me love about your poems,
flora, fauna, the human cuppa,
is that you write what your eyes feel,
yet, it is I doing the seeing

for that
I’ll follow you kicking and screaming,
I’ll be your babe in arms



~~~
^https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NamesofGodinJudaism
false poets

on the Earth, some need a heaven and hell above,
which suits the powered up reigning status quo rulers,
promising that by being just and docile,
one will earn frequent flyer life miles
to a destination ticketed & named,
but not by actual visitation,
a return confirmation, never

some take your self-love as their own idea,
reselling it over and over again back to you
but know that when you sing your own song,
the discoverable truth is we all
get to go to sort of a sanctuary,
especially if you record-keep your flaws,
in order to constantly reinvent yourself
in order to

reach some kind of agreement with yourself

human gravity is hard enough to escape so travel light,
shed those skins over and over again,
each a modest  improvement sequentially,
leave your exited charred speech behind,
knockoff the blackened flaking edges, a discarded cutaway,
this way to transcend phony notion redemption requirements,
redemption
is a toxic emblem, a symbol unrequited and a sucker’s play

I am the spirit of another’s name, who, here to teach,
this being today’s lesson;
how to reach your unique
truth sanctuary,
where the stronghold of who you yet-to-be, can-be awaits,
the reinventing ones, successful, some call poets,
they do not confuse redemption requests
with sanctuary
only provisioned
by yourself,
for yourself