Can I be as fragile to touch as a butterfly's wings?
Palpitating color -
A forest: deep inside, a bush under the tree-roof,
Red berries sprouting from fingertips,
A thorn catches

Blood

A broken wing

Nick's Night

dryer sheets, crisp crease
in my jeans. i'm thinking of that day -
sitting at a japanese buffet -
right now my folded clothes decorate the couch,
the dining room table. my cousin next to me
as i opened my fortune cookie - japanese buffet? -
all i could say was an open mouth
a temptation will be evil...the fortune said

i had a decision to make...the dryer's spinning,
my boots were new that day, gray skies hung down
the temperature didn't change

you laid a proposition on my lap -
this towel is too big for one to fold -
clean clothes and a cd player, hotel sheets
and one candle in the corner.

The Monday Night Drive to Baton Rouge

We can't stay at my house, I just broke
up with my boyfriend, he might be there.
He's moving to Massachusetts soon.
My apartment's off limits until July.

Summers here, days been thick.
I remember how you felt, from last fall.
Now sweat rolls down your places -
the cup at the bottom of your back,
your hand on the wheel racing into
a great story to tell tomorrow.

The story of how we drove to Baton Rouge,
after drinks at Molly's, a slow
dance or two, songs
on the juke we couldn't afford.

So you'll drive me to Baton Rouge,
to your apartment, to make love,
An hour in the passenger side -
my apartment's off limits 'til July.

Love, for the City I Hate: Unnamed Lover

I really wanted us to make love underneath my bayou tree

I've gone to that tree drunk to cry and listen
to music that I knew would only make me cry harder
I've gone to that tree to listen to its leaves shiver
and watch the moon or nude sky through them
I've seen light and dark because of that tree
That tree anchors me into this bayou soil
I'm wrapped up in that tree's roots
I'm oversaturated with water like that tree,
too much to eat, too much heat

I wanted to sit you at the base of my tree's trunk
I wanted to squeeze the knots of the tree
into your hips with the insides of my thighs

I wanted you to anchor me at the base of my bayou tree

i'm in the grocery store looking for your girlfriend

if i keep my eyes trained on the spinning chickens
and the threatening life-charring flames behind them
i won't be tempted to follow her
inspect her buggy
make a list of what she's buying
differentiate what you will eat and won't

Slick city streets
raindrops speckle vision
lightning slice the sky
a head split on the pavement
eyes inhale skies illuminated colored purple and blue
like easter eggs
dyed water splashes up on a shirt
dye a spot on a pale neck
sliced drops slide down above the windshield wiper's line
aren't any tears tonight to trickle down a cheek
cloud is hungover
still bleeding out the liquid from a long day
at the park with old friends
he hadn't seen for ages.

Composition

notes reach out as a net between us connecting
the space between us
to us

a tight voice spins my sleep,
sews together a dream and my eyelids,
black notes, a crescendo, crease
out of my closed eyes

during the darkness of my slumber
these notes bring me to you,
are a hand reaching out to your face
soft hairy, a touch lights the cavern
where my compass led me

and the baton lifts up
my eyes don't open