Her scent kept the animals unsure
She imagined people living happily, ordinarily
utterly soaked in their usual, sober directions
masking traces that suffer a sort of revealed thrill:
A lean cat’s desire to embrace men’s secrets
in nice boxes, shaken innocence and sour blue haze,
warmth flooding those damnable death-oil pools
Yes, her scent kept all of the animals unsure

It was a fine white linen tablecloth the size of Sevastopol
and I smoothed out the slightest wrinkles one by one, flicking away
tiny—almost imperceptible—crumbs

Front-end loaders delivered the silverware, crate after crate, and
wave upon wave of thundering Chinooks dropped parcels of pleated,
excruciatingly well-starched dinner napkins

An army of kid-gloved waitstaff painstakingly unwrapped a myriad
of fragile place-settings and carefully laid them straight, bristling with
an anticipation heretofore unknown

A steady scarlet stream of hosed fire engines rumbled past to fill each
finely-stemmed water glass around shards of ice chainsawed, ton by ton,
from the diminishing glaciers of Greenland

The steamy aroma of luncheon filled the atmosphere enveloping most
of the entire Eastern seaboard as the sound of tongs metallically clattered
amidst the hiss of the multitudes of grills

All appeared in readiness as I surveyed this near-perfect hall, the size of
Barcelona, and murmuring voices of those waiting mingled with sunlight
passing through the sheer, breezy drapery

I smiled wryly to myself for today I would be supping with those who
have also experienced the loneliness I often feel inside

we once shared potential
now shameful, disgusted, belittled
we slept together in prisons of
what we tend to avoid:
memory

traumatized adult children
now sleeping, eating, cleansing
facing the prospect of time
unashamedly scavenging
emptiness

Sometimes you're my elder
and sometimes you're so young
Sometimes I think you're crazy
But I believe that you're the one
These are the very words I told you:
Sometimes it's difficult to feel sad
when I can feel you all around me
and see a future I never had

If I could paint a portrait
that could show you what I see
I really think you'd understand
more of yourself and more of me
But I just don't have the talent
not the colors, nor the eye
to paint you both inside and out
but how I'd love to try

So sing to me of all the things
you find it hard to tell
and stagger me with your written words
just when I'm sure I know you well
Trouble me with your unnamed fears
your thunderstorms and rain
and trust each other as we move together
through our growing pains

I sip my morning coffee
and you open a bottle of Coke
I give you a little kiss, but I wonder
if there's really any hope
You listen to me slurp
while I listen to you burp
Sometimes I have to wonder
if we can ever make it work
'cause I'm a cup of coffee guy
and you're a bottle of Coke

You've never seen a Western
Where's your streaming service hide 'em?
Those biopics about Russian aristocracy
won't be suggested right beside them
You order pretzels at the theater, baby
and I get Junior Mints
Do you think that maybe we both
should be picking up these hints?
You're a cheesy pretzel girl at the movies
and I'm just the Junior Mints

How I can watch a title fight
you find completely incomprehensible
But as you know little about boxing, your
position's a little less than defensible
You don't know the rope-a-dope
but I'll admit I don't watch daytime soaps
and I don't criticize them because
do I watch 'em?  Nope.
I'm a nighttime rope-a-dope kind of guy
and you're the daytime soaps

I'm just a battered old paper cup of take-out coffee
girl, and you're a refreshing... curvy... glistening...
completely and wholly satisfying...
bottle of Coke

Isn't it funny
how the more I need you
the more you drift away?

You'll feel so hurt
when I do end up
getting along anyway

Isn't that funny?

Drive
Someday alive
Someday I’ll find terrific
     love, crap, courage
even though
even though
     Could have
         used a Human author
who understands Poetry crap stuff
Could have used a Human author
    who understands Poetry crap stuff
Driving alone,
    confused
Someone called
    the words
          Someone didn’t call you
Someday
happily becoming
    a used Human author
          understanding Poetry crap stuff
Drive:
    first Pretty Big nice flower arrangement
Drive:
    first Pretty Big nice funny arrangements
Someday alive
    someday, Friends, available
             finding terrific love
Absolutely we could have used a Human author
    who understands Poetry
Absolutely I could have used a Human author
    understanding Poetry crap stuff
Fall
      day,
Keep
      reading
Find
terrific
love:

      Drive