FOOL THAT I AM

3/26/2008--subway train
they know the rules of
engagement; schooled in
the war of words
hoping for
hand-to-hand
on this moving metal
car full of commuters

they've come from another car
voices raised; she, in-between
them and trying to prevent the
escalation of blood spilling and
bones cracking

but this is no place or time
for mediators; her calmness and
reason have no place here

the rules are clear:
get them before they get you
and no one of us: the commuters
know the problem
what happened in the other train car?

but here,
they get ready to let it out in an
urban remake of show-me-yours...

none of us intervene
instead, we move one
or two seats away as
if the potential blood
shed won't stain our
sheets red with
knowing...remembering

3/27/2006--home
the dream:

/make room amongst your things/you'll never know i'm here he said/

i didn't have too much to move around
cleared out one drawer
removed hats/sweaters
from the top shelf in the closet
plus,
he didn't have much anyway
so it wasn't like i had to rearrange
my whole life...

/don't feel obligated to come here i said
this is a big step neither of us should
take lightly.../

but he was was on his way
up the stairs
opening the door with the keys
we'd made extras of the night before

3/28/2004--elevated train
can one wish list this kiss
to your liking the way you like
to write. can one list wish the
stitches away. can one be whole

can one be me who lists you as
the feeling one gets from feeling
fine where your kisses wish
wholeness for one another


can one be whole when at this
writing wishing kisses listening
intently. feeling fine is the other
wish

3/29/2002--subway train
...from conversations coasting by imagined
lights...if this train moves fast enough, we
will only see streams of light

appearing unbroken on how the spaces
between light one, two, three...cease to
exist...

effectually, the serenade of gum-popping
and sunflower seeds cracking, their shells
hitting the floor as small explosions

i wish that glances didn't turn people away
why wouldn't i be staring at you

considering you haven't stopped since i got
on several stops ago

there is no sanitorium on this route

he may imagine
there is a spot on the sun

where the questions rest on tips
of tongues; fringes of conversations,
absorbing silence

underneath all of this
there is another side
where spots become myth...legend...muse