• new york

    i climb to the 49th floor
    to write about a made-up place
    where the sun exists only through glass
    and lingers like a body

    it’s all world-ending truths
    and moon-sized ego

    my favorite place to hide
    is this bar right here,
    where hands, greased with stories,
    tell of nights that ruined me
    nights i was euphoric
    screaming down bowery
    queen of the night

    myth-busting paradoxical city
    contagious freak city

    always crushing on this place
    contracting colds
    swaying on my toes
    under the loom of the bridge
    where the seaport floats above the sea,
    last glimmer of magic
    dissolving into what i share
    with every other city rat

    the promise of morning,
    an illusion,
    nothing at all

  • plastic tank

    I made myself a spectator
    At the wall of your world
    My hands touching the glass
    Your body breathing through the water
    Everything bubbling and bright and dangerous
    I called out to you, but you couldn’t hear me
    Your lungs like iron, and then:
    A year passed in silence,
    Years long gone and chewed up and spit out
    When it was all over, I knocked
    And I said, Swim!

  • legend of lovers

    memory blooms
    like summer
    below our feet
    my name in the wind,
    a passing train
    quiet, stubborn time
    nothing abusive,
    nothing exceptional,
    a distance, infinitely expanding
    i watch you turn to snow,
    then to rain.