Comets

Comets. Shoot from parted lips.

As I stand in doorways
One shoe in hand
Yelling your name
And the hate you inspired
When you
Arrived four hours late.

I love you, Stupid Man,
And it’s never enough
To get you to come home at eight.

12 a.m.
And you’re a thief in the night
Taking all air from rooms,
The scurrying feet of mice,
The roaches who waited up with me.

…and here I am.
Medusa
Snakes hissing
Eyes,
Carving out your brittle heart.

Fucken bastard
Cant you ever come home before I go mad?

Instead you wait
Every goddamned night
Until I am
Knitting sweaters
Out of the strings
That dangle my heart.

Balls of fire,
Slingshot
Insults.

Shoe in hand.

Parallel Isnt Always Good

Roads stretch
-like

Finger tips
On swelled surfaces

Pieces of you
Beneath my eyes

minutes when
you go missing

and I wish I drove more things than you insane

universes
on shoulder blades
blond hairs
on back of necks
your tongue
on the pulse of veins

dialogue goes unnoticed
when your lips
spell - cast
(lord. here I go twisted again)

it’s the desperate
that makes me call you daddy
that leads to phone
ringing
at indecent hours
…this isn’t me on the receiver
-no baby I swear-
its fingers seeking cigarettes
lonesome lips a kiss
the skin, my skin,
this fucken temperamental skin!
calls
and calls
up and down telephone poles
through wires
that spread

like roads do

and
none of them
lead to
You

ever.

Same Difference

Suppression

BOOM.

That’s the way it sounds
When freedom flees
From sidewalks
Crowds roaring in agony
….the sudden cold
Frightening children
Into the folds of mothers skirts.

BOOM!

Is the way it used to sound back home
When tanks came rolling into schoolyards.
All the young men (still trailing clouds of innocence)
Turned soldiers
Face so twisted
Sisters couldn’t recognize them.

I was never there
When cousins shot
Uncles and
Brothers turned
Their own mothers
Into the soldiers.
Nieces laying decapitated
At every fork on the road.

I didn’t see
The children
from those days, when
Death as familiar
As soccer games.
When they
Fed dogs
Limbs of
Someone
They vaguely knew…

BOOM

Went the
Tiles on ceilings
And everyone
Fell face first into floors.

Bullets
Whistling.
And someone
Cried

…someone always cries…when the shots ring.

And that’s how it was
that day
In the park.
Minus the blood
And lost
Lives.

But spirits
Still buckled
To the thunder
Of uniformed men.

And bodies still fell at the same angle
Howling in the same humiliated pain

BOOM.

The boots
Met flesh
Like in those days
And someone ran
And for a minute
Alvarado Street
Looked
Like the dirt road
On the side
Of Rio De Jalponga

And life
Was as fragile
As a held breath.

BOOM

In an instant
We became
What we fled
From.

And I wasn’t there
That day in May
Or back in
The times
of our civil war

But I have seen
The faces…
And the silence
That comes
With their fear.

And I now know that
BOOM.

Go the eardrums
One last time
Before the silence
Settles

On my people.

Bad Poem

God had a stroke tonight
…as he sat on his throne
Miller Light in one hand
This poem in the other.
Satan called me
once he heard the news

“J, you’re wicked”
I laughed
“Lucifer ole’ boy I already knew.”

Because this is the kind of poem
I begin at 3:09 am.
And finish at 3:13.
The kind
That spits in his mothers face.
A bad-bastard poem
With no daddy to knock
Sense into it.

It’s a poem about
A Colonel
Fucking a virgin
In the middle of a war
that’s fighting
For freedom from
Something that
Everybody has already forgotten
But it keeps on fighting because
Pride and Glory now drive
This poem hard
Into its rebellion.

Its about more than Me
And my sinful nature,
But about Rosa , Cindy and Stephanie
Girls who were too fast too soon
And told me about hard dicks
While we hid in high school restrooms.
While my eyes -wide open-
Memorized what it was
That drove men to pay so much attention
They felt they need to
Enter
Me.

This poem is about all I wont be,
Jesus never was,
And every other god
Claims They will become.

Salvation

From the monotony of good behavior
Tranquil smiles
Hollow faces.

Liberation

From conformity with prolonged gratification
Sanity
Silence.

It’s the Advocate
For Anarchy
Wild wicked nights
Where we sin
Without giving a damn

Sending Satan
Himself packing
Because
This poem
Killed God
And every other
Pretense of control.

And
Damn it
In Four Minutes
I finally wrote the piece
That freed us all.

Because this poem
Says the truth
We are all afraid of

The truth that we Humans, don’t seek peace
But reasons to feel the weakness of our flesh
To remind us why we live. Why we wish. Push. Love. Need. Ache. Hate.
Why we sin day and day again and pound our chests and
Drag these chains we’ve tied around our waists.

Feeling. Feeling. Feeling. Our way in the darkness of our flesh.

Let God claim his beers throne and stroke!

Because his coveted
Mortality is ours

And in it, Like this poem,

We are splendid and beautiful
in our hard earned damnation.

Little Hummingbird

you came
drinking laughter
from our hands

a flutter of magic
secrets
giggles

a single burst of chest

i watch you sleep
and cannot believe
my luck

little hummingbird

silly wings
and dance

do you know
the hope
you give
this tired heart
of mine?

I love you
little child
tiny treasure

hum hum hum

so divine

hum hum hum

little Rozy of mine

Pawned

you used to laugh
without peeling lips
keeping teeth
like secrets
tucked behind
the skin of mouth

there were too many things
you never sought to understand

the eggshell words
I tucked beneath your sheets
a single strand of hair
left on your pillow case

just so the room
would never forget
the silence
we rubbed
thick between
fingertips

I was yours
even
when I wasn’t

wept openly in your arms
laughed myself to tears
spilled words
like marbles
gave
so much
i forgot where i
began
and you ended

and you pressed lips
grimace and smile
the same

not a trace of me
on those limbs
of yours

only bones
and secrets
and your
god awful
skin

Forget The Warewolf

The lumberjack found me

Lurking in the bushes

He split my belly in half while i wept

Replaced my trembling guts with bricks

And tossed me into the well

.....

Silently I've given into the current

Claws extended,

Eyes open

I sink

Sink

Sink

The last image

You

Loving

Anyone

But me.

I swear I could eat her alive.

I Want To Squeeze You Like Lemons

I knew
That
You’d
Sting
In all
The
Wrong
Places

But I have waited
Sweet and easy
Too long for you to ripen

limoncito mio,
hombre de besos amargos
tengo tanta sed de ti

I knew
You'd
Sting in the
Back of jaw
Bring tears to eyes
Shutter to body

But I have waited
Sweet and easy
Too long for you to ripen

Limoncito,
Tengo
Tanta sed

Tanta
Tanta
Sed
De ti.

Boy Blue Blurb #6

you
fault line
in my living room floor
mouth full of
broken beer bottles

I love you pure
hook of finger
click of tongue
cold backs
back stares
look
at me
boy

you
move
me

right
down
to my
core

This Is How I Named You Monster

1.

in the dark
our arms looked
so jagged
I could have sworn
they were
out to devour us
in mid sleep


2.

you only said
you loved me
with
both hands
wrapped around
my neck


3.

i carved my wrists
just to give them the lips
they needed
to call out
your name


4.

thoughts
no longer
were thoughts
but escape tunnels
from your touch


5.

I couldn’t remember
the last time
I had seen you smile
or the taste
of my laughter
or how
there once was
so much love
in this apartment
I could avoid
seeing you clearly

we were brand new
holy and whole.


6.

I couldn’t remember
never
hating you

or having wrists
who didn’t
shout out your name

Sunflower Sex

my cunt is
a flower
you say

the kind
that blooms
nightly
with its
thick and heavy stench

and it tastes like miles of wild life
abandoned roads in cliffs
like Cortez's hidden treasure
and Mayan deities in flames.

you peel my lips like petals
one
by one
until there is
a nose full of me in you.
a swollen clit being
nudged awake.

suddenly its spring time
the sun climbing over the horizon
God stretching from his slumber
my legs (like arms) extended

open
like the sunflower
neck stretched and
hips
threatening

to consume
your face

...

my cunt is
perfection
you say

as it bursts
like roses and dreams
do

the stench
claiming every sky

you turn to

Spineless Defiance

And so what if I loved your father
Until he fed me concrete
Learned to dislocate shoulder blades at will
Giving flight to punishment.
- to forgive tears lost in swollen eyes
Turning his fist and my skin
Into unanimous symbols
Of unconditional faith
Because
Somewhere beneath
The wild eye
The blood of brow
The crush of pelvis
The tender meat
Hid - the sweetest words
Ever told to me.

Somewhere between
The grunts of rape
Pillows smothered over face
Fingers extended towards
Solemn faces reflected
In shamed mirrors,
Rage for the fat.
For the loss.
For the shame.
He came
Arms raising skyscrapers I had never met
Promising that angels also break
Only to create
Another place
Another day
Closer to god.

And so what if I stayed
While jail time released purgatories
And I became known
As the woman who
Runs barefoot in back alleys after midnight
And the only restraining orders we kept
Where those of my self respect
And his self restraint

I loved,
The Canaan and Abel kind of love
Bleeding from back ends
Just to rearrange order
Insisting History
And misery
Where synonyms
I was spoon fed.

I loved
Daily
With sweat in baked bread
With hope in healing wounds
With my soul stuffed into his meth pipe
And you growing deep within in my womb
Or in my arms
Or at my side
Or so distant that
I couldn’t cry anymore
For you. for me. for him.
Or all the babies I had lost
When his boots

Inconveniently
Deflated me.

I stayed.
Not for anyone but me.
Insisting
This was just another piece
I could edit later.
Perform differently
Another ending
Would come
When I could think
Clearer.

Woman open your eyes wide

Look at the brand new sky

Wake up! Wake up!

Edit.
Edit.
The fucken concrete.

* inspired by the many women in my family and life who endured abuse because they knew no other language for love*

Love Like Pluto

my grandmother says
I was born with a defective
heart and mouth
both too eager to please
and willing to receive
any crumb

no one taught me to love in words
to put limbs into motion
that matched this ache in my chest
no one pointed out midnight stars
promising to give me the moon
if I spun all these pretty little feelings
into something special for them

so I learned to love thru objects
inanimate beings who allowed me
to hold them when no one was watching

i have loved
the way unlocked doors do
kitchen light left on
dinner in the microwave
and is there anything
else you want?

loved like
keyhole
doorknob
there are so many
door frames
in me
begging to be filled
with a shoe
a brief case
someone’s end of day sighs
wanting to be held
like their carry all bag
full of all their loose ends
even the regrets.
give me all your extra weight
I will burst at the seams
and pour out your name

tell me,
how can I break
so that you never will?

what do you need me to be?
and I will
turn myself
inside out
a mismatched
sock of a heart
hum meaning into me
like a song
only you know the key to

and I will love you
like bridges
jail cells
empty birdcages
like Pluto
who
never belonged
but insisted on doing so

I am here because
I can be
and it gets
too cold
when someone doesn’t
touch me

I will love you
like runs in panty hose
the thinning thread
in the knee of your favorite jeans
scabs over mosquito bites
discovering god without the guilt
hiding in dark rooms
just to say your name to the shadows
to feel it cut slowly through me

I will
love you
like
you
forgot
to sow
me back up

because this is the way I was born love

loving
like
love was
the only
choice

I am an inanimate object
here to serve a purpose
to fill a need
don’t I look pretty decorating your life?

baby, I will love like
unlocked doors
purses that are too big
and full moons at 3 a.m.

and you
creature of tender feelings
and papier-mâché hearts
I know you also love
the way that I do,
tell me,
how long have you been
this curious little thing
loving the way
no one ever expected things to love?

freely

Natalie

i.

I told her
If she were a planet
She would be earth
Self sufficient
And two thirds magic


ii.

Wendy,
how many windows
have you left open
for half grown men
to be able to steal
slivers of you?

you are the kind of woman
little girls never dream of becoming
but should,
just to say
they learned to fly on whims
beamed light
in littered alleys
laughed so hard and long
you did not know
if your body was
weeping or celebrating
schools should teach
to love the way that you do
half beast half mother-like
you,
are the space between lips
the rush of air from the pit of gut
hands. extended.

I find myself wanting to be a reversed tinker bell
Never jealous of lost boys loving you
But of the shadows you tie unto the heels
Of their broken feet

Fuck peter pan
And his never land
you were never meant
to be a creature of story books
earmarked and shelved
you, dear friend,
belong to the living.

The hustle and bustle
The blue sky smog
Car horns and saxophones
White floors
And red lips
Living

No fairy dust
The freckles
On your cheek
Are enough
Magic

Wendy,
Close your windows
Slowly
Folding into yourself

Peter pan
Will never understand
How women as real
As you
Are the wonderland
He’s so desperate
To never return from.

*(photograph by fisseah w. moges) poem for my dear friend/mentor Natalie *

Nightlight

there are nights
when thick skin
wears my insides
raw

twilight hours
where
my bed is
as vast
as oblivion

I could die in so much empty space

but the moon,
blessed mother moon,
hums loud enough
for me to hear

steady comes her song

about how

full
is the best way
to be
burst little girl
she tells me
you can burst
and still be whole
when morning comes

trust in me.

I.C.U.

I will never forget
Your eyes
And that room

Your lungs
Who couldn’t
Bare this world anymore
If I am quiet enough
I can hear your gasps for air
My name somewhere in them

outside the world so still
quiet. patient.

i didnt know that would be goodbye
but we locked eyes

yours were so sad

if i am quiet enough i can hear them now

I will never forget

I swear
Never

Luceros

no one had
ever made me
want to expand
from skin
into solar systems
rearrange planets
by touch
and sight
so that you may learn
the biggest god's
are not the ones
we learn to love
but those
who pull us
into orbits
we never expected
to dance in

you
make me want
to re invent
language
so that i may
hum every secret
into one note
and you would have heard
anything any heart
had to share

and you - you and only you
make me cry. chest bursting. bones shaking.
dying and living and grieving and celebrating
all at once.
wanting to be
God
just to love you
the way no one else
has ever taught me to love.

skin stretches
like arms
do
everytime you walk by

it seems
i cannot hold you
enough
my little stars.





*For Andrew and Rozy. The best things to ever happen to me. (jen and art i cant thank you enough for them)*