to do
on your to-do list
one more phone call
to make
after the end
of another long day
one more email
to read
when your eyes
were already blurry
one more person
to squeeze in
a busy schedule
that has
no room
you were
her everything
until
she became
one more thing

Flocks of birds
Across the morning sky
Tell me
I’m not in the city any more.
             ljm

Best baked birthday cake
balloons tied to the sky
five candles a blow can handle
happy birthday jolly cute guy.

When I look over
my shoulder
all I see is a star
shining through
a dark hole
and hear a strange sound
like wind crying out
through the trees
or the creaking
of limbs
a dark shape
passing over the moon
like an omen
of a mad woman
I once knew
a ghost ship
spreading her legs
like a cross
arms reaching out
her name lost
to my memory
something that sounds
much like my doom.