An expanded meaning,
referring variously to literal bodies and to
the vegetative nervous system which controls vital functions.

She has been made a constellation
and is destined to outlast the contestants.
The germs develop first in seven segments,
some people may actually fall from their beds.

When I was casting
in these works the term took on
suggestion of how one might view the work,
gestures but also the placement and movement.

It might have been a drag queen –
Some well-formed whole constructed from
something in you that is no longer functioning.

When you dream about an accidental death
of any person,
that person’s death symbolizes Macrophobia.

love is not blind; it's
just not looking at u

u are the south pole
to my north; southern
cross to my north star;
southern lights to my
aurora borealis

there are reasons why
a magnet's north is on
one end & its south
on the other; were we
to meet we would
become inseparable;

u are the in to my out;
square to my circle; cube
to my sphere; tails to my
head if only b/c I want
ur tail on my head; u
could say I flipped for u;
u could say I turned over a
new leaf or took a turn for
the better or spun on my
heels or swept u off ur feet;
sounds like we're dancing;
u are the proton to my
nutron; left to my right,
right to my wrong; the
girl to my boy

u are the opposite attracting
whatever is opposite u; that
must be me b/c I'm attracted to
u rather unashamedly I fear;

if we were an atom it would
be very unwise to split us up

if like attracted like
it would be like this

She was like music,
and I longed to dance.

Her heart was the beat,
and I begged for the chance.

Her words were the vocals,
and I was put in a trance.

Her smile was the melody,
and I fell in love at first glance.

The setting of traps
has always seemed
like a tacit endorsement
of the mice.

Acknowledgement.
Validation.
Admission of failings as a homeowner –
(cracked baseboards or an unsealed gap in the door.)

We are usually responsible
for our own infestations, after all.

The relationship with the mice is codified
“you are vermin,
I am not.
I will ****.
You will die.”

Thus the mice are transfigured,
Christ-like.
Frozen in fear,
frozen in time,
laid bare
on a sticky, chemical
altar of sacrifice.

Saviors
giving their lives
so that we may preserve
those unwanted crumbs
in the vacant space
between the couch and loveseat
where the vacuum won’t reach.

The boxes
which keep my blood clean
are stacked as tall as I,
a monument
in the spare room
to past battles.
Too many words,
too many thoughts
******* in the
hand-to-hand combat
with mortality.

No more.

What life I have
will not be defined
by an indeterminate end.

I live to write poems;
I will no longer die in them.

If ye are the white page
I shall be that black mark
Senseless confusion abides
I thy center
Cloudless sky
Or single bird be ye:
I die a million lives
Within thee
Reincarnated eternal
If it gives but a single breath
To your song

At this time of year Winter's grip is left behind
In every corner little signs of Spring we find
Birds are pairing up, snowdrops brave the chill
Life in the earth begins to stir
And yes, I love you still