At some point
Some time
We all take too long between showers
Some days
Have ways
Of turning into a week

I think you think
You're being romantic
Poem after poem about her each day
Detailing your complete misery
Since your love as gone away
No more poems about nature
Or society
You don't write about work
Or time that you're free
All you do is wish that girl will see
And come running back to you
Gleefully
But your obsessive prosing about
How much you care
Makes me think this girl is living in
Fear

Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell
Jimmie Rodgers on the Victrola up high
Mama's dancin' with a baby on her shoulder
The sun is settin' like molasses in the sky
The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for
Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
Up in Memphis, the music's like a heatwave
White lightning, bound to drive you wild
Mama's baby's in the heart of every schoolgirl
"Love Me Tender" leaves 'em cryin' in the aisle
The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for
Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
Every word of every song that he sang was for you
In a flash, he was gone, it happened so soon
What could you do?
Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
If you please
If you please
If you please

In my imagination
He finds me highly entertaining
And sometimes I give him a *****

You didn’t break my heart
You taught me to
Protect it
Thanks
I guess

It's the talent
Of making people bored
With an overload of uninspired
Drivel
The talent is in believing
It's not bored and
Uninspired
Kind of how I am ignoring how
Bored and uninspired this
Drivel is
It's going no where
Really
But it's started
So it must go somewhere
Right?
Another useless poem
Heading off
Taillights in the night

Past the stage of blissful anonymity
He will not acknowledge me
I suppose it means that I am free
These ties are all imaginary
And even though I know it
Chained to him is still where I be
Completely unromantically

The masses love corny
And I’m full of flakes
So I’ll keep on pouring
Until someone takes

I want to bring chaos into your order
Order into your mess
I want to flip you up over
Spin you around
Smack it up
Lick it up
Rub it down
I want you to look for me
When I’m not around
I want you to be willing
To make a sound

I’ve touched your soul
With my ***** mind
Smeared it all over
With jelly and juice
(And a barbecue dressing of some kind)
Put the thought of you to intimate use
(Repeatedly)
Whispered into your ear
Breathlessly
I’ve presented you with
The longest mental striptease
Anyone’s ever seen
And no matter how much mud I sling
There you sit
Soul pristine

Better be careful how you treat me
I can eviscerate you
Through poetry
A timeless critique
Of you
By me

My weakness is people who feel sorry for themselves
I don’t like to see it in me
Thus
It annoys me in others
I also dislike those
Who don’t appreciate their blessings
Particularly
When they are particularly
Blessed
The particularity
Of it all
Blessings are not overly
Particular
About who they visit

Unimpressed
As she was
By all the things
He had commonly
Stood out about
He rose higher
And stood out more
Many an otherwise
Unremarkable
Unimpressed girl
Brought about
Genius
In some bozo on the bus
Still on for the stop
Anonymously
The spark which started the fire in he

The girl I’m meant to be
Will be thanking me
For writing all this poetry

If you stop and be silent
You will see
(Well, hear, really)
The crickets are playing you a symphony
One of a kind, never before heard
And they’re doing it so gleefully
Tweets and twangs
Tingles and pangs
Pitters and pats
Crickets’ symphonies sound like that

I make demands
Follow through halfway
And wonder if it will be a win
On this one important thing
That means something
To me
Maybe too much
But not enough
To give it up

The drama queen is long and lean
Always frets about her fat
Sighing in the mirror
From this angle and that
She looks for a reason
So she can take offense
And can't stop pestering you
When you're hanging with other friends
She likes to show her body
And believes the big response
Hundreds of fellas
All of those tellas
Thumbs up, compliment
Making her feel heaven sent
Because they acknowledge
And attention from strangers
Feels like love to her

Sometime soon
You’ll come around here
To check
What did I do
And you won’t help but notice
I was thinkin’ about you

This is not me begging
This is me asking earnestly

Just a good old boys
Never meanin' no harm
Beats all you never saw
Been in trouble with the law since the day they was born
Straightening the curves, yeah
Flattenin' the hills
Someday the mountain might get 'em, but the law never will
Makin' their way the only way they know how
That's just a little bit more than the law will allow

This is your virtual
Mind massage
I can tell you need to put down your heavy
Thoughts
I am at your temples
Gentle circles
And then directing the vibes up and out
My palm across your forehead
An eraser on a blackboard
Thoughts out the top
Relaxed
Breathing
Steady and full
Your neck
So tight at first
Takes a little work
Feel my fingers gentle coaxing
Spine align
And knot forgot
Shoulders
Released of their load
Kneading out the memories
Of what you’ve been carrying
Blades and middles
Lowers and hips
Rubbed and oiled
Kissed with my lips
I hear you moan
I cannot stop
I’m taking you through bliss
I can tell you’ve never been
In it quite like this

There is a bird
Outside my window
But not the kind of bird I am used ta
To me, it sounds like a crow
But he clearly thinks he is a rooster

It might take some time
Letting go
Maybe I’ll never be really gone
You play the same role
Whether I hold on
Or let go

I want to believe
You want to know me
Too old for foolish dreams
Too young to leave gracefully
I realize you can see
How bent and broken I be
If I were you
I probably
Would ignore me, too

Now you're just spitting out
Hollow air
Useless words
Nothing there
You were genius
Before people started noticing
How good you were
And suddenly
You're putting out nonsense
And ****** content
Unfinished,
And not meant
To make it past the drafts
But you were brilliant once
And you can rest on your past

If you wrote a poem for me
It would be beautiful to see
Even if it was angry
But
I don't think it would be
Though your draw was
Unpredictability
I'm not sure if I know you
But I'm pretty sure you know me

Now
We’re just repeating ourselves
The grudges and gripes
The praises and hypes
Over-eager types
Finding something to back
The club that has something they lack

You flowers have it pretty dull
Yeah, you’re lovely
But helpless
Even the ones with thorns
Thorns are pretty easy to breach
Smelling good
A curse and a blessing
Probably
You are a commodity
But if you hadn’t been
Lovingly bred
Your entire species
Would probably be dead

What I am
Who I am
I will probably
Always be
Potentially
Great
But not likely
Above average probably
But not enough so that anybody sees
I’m not sure, though
I would want that to be
The world calling me out on my poetry
I don’t know if I’d wish that fate on
Anybody

Shelves need a dusting
Recover a brush
Into the bathroom it goes
Look at those toothpaste stains
In the basin
I surely need to clean those
Under the kitchen sink
To get me a sponge
Look at all those ***** dishes
I’ve gotta clean at least some
First put the clean ones away
The cabinet is in such disarray
Here’s that stupid electronic adapter
I looked for yesterday
Gotta put it in place right away
But look at this unorganized drawer
What a cluttered way to store
Electronic adapters, or anything more
Organization is what it needs
Here’s that book I was looking for
Back in it’s place, it goes
Oh my
Shelves need a dusting

I want to scare you
Intimidated by an unknown feeling
I want to rock your entire world
Upon introduction
I want an irresistible
Magic connection
I want to meet you someday
Hopefully soon
And suddenly I will see in you
Whoever you are
Duel
Magic spark
Into one
I hope when it happens to me
That’s the way it will be

I wanna see your ugly
I wanna smell your stink
Show me the dry, cracked heels
You walk upon
Present the dirt under your fingernails
Blackheads, zits, and straight up ****
Blow ya nose into a napkin and show ya boogasnots
Display the ***** q-tip pulled from your ear
Ingrown toenail, weird hair
There’s gotta be imperfection there
Somewhere

I hope I never don’t want to go
Barefoot on grass
When the option is there
I hope I always choose to dance
Over sitting in a chair
I hope little kids always wear me out
And get me out of breath
I hope I live so **** hard
When I go
There’s nothing left

It’s only real to me
In my tenuous sanity
Combined with vanity
Dreams
And how they be
Only real to me

The first song on my playlist for you
Promise of a new day
Paula Abdul

I touch him
Occasionally
Some miracle way
Without ever being there
I feel it in the air
When I bring
Something to him
Invisibly
And magically
He can nonchalant
All he wants
I make him smile
Lotsa whiles
Under the radar
He sees
With me
Strangers in a crowd
Someday maybe
He will see out loud

There is an old man in the yard next door
Who often comes out to feed the birds
And he wears a long nightshirt
Like most men used to do
But my little grandkids don’t know that rule
So when the old man comes out
And they’re talking about
“She is outside feeding the birds,”
And though I’m pretty sure he heard those words
He doesn’t correct them
And neither do I
Because as much as he looks like a very old guy
I cannot be positive
He’s not a she
And so I continue to let it be

It's not about numbers
Though it's nice when it adds up
But about sharing
Whatever it is that might move you
For good or ill
And perhaps it be
Poetry
Art of the mostly misunderstood
Which is ironic
Since it's laid so bare upon the artist
Which is probably why it's so
Alien to those who keep fully dressed
They probably don't look at their own
Self
Naked
Naturally
They will find poetry either
Fascinating  or
Repulsive
It's mostly about adding something
To the collective
And being proud of it
Going back on it
To the place in your mind when you
Wrote it
From a different place
Hopefully resolved
Others may see it from whatever place They are
And some can relate
And put words to their feelings
Others can understand
It's not about numbers
But it is about addition

It was over
Their relationship hit the skids
Long before they got out of it
He was the one who finally vocalized
Tensely, concerned for her pride
He took the blame
And pretended to be in lots of pain
Crying and saying how sorry he was
But they have to admit they’re not in love
And so
On it goes
A couple of days
And then she shows
On his job sites
Front yard middle of the nights
Friends’ houses
Friends’ mommas’ houses
Bar he occasionally goes
If he was somewhere
She was likely to show
And he pretended she wasn’t there
While she sat in some corner chair
Seemingly extremely interested in the menu
Or a poor patron , to serve as her tool
Who just wanted an excuse to move his stool
And after a few months of this
He finally called and said “cut the ****”
But all she heard was the phone ring
And his voice on the other end
And now she’s telling everybody
“Can you believe he is still calling me!?”
And now he’s back at square one
Because she won’t accept he’s really done

Do you feel the maybes, why nots and what ifs?  
Are you anywhere near catching my drift?
Maybe I see
From my skewed point of view
Almost something from you

He is water on fire
Exotic hamster
Invisible high wire
He is thick warm moss
Climbing up the side of this tree
He is spiral giggles
And I like that he notices me

He’s got some kinda mojo  
Filled right up to the brim
Spark of creation still alive
In the soul of him
Ancient primal jinn
Magic in his very skin

It’s not the coulda woulda shouldas
That get to me
It’s the couldn’ta wouldn’ta and shouldn’tas
That I dwell on

Some days
There are shadows of spiders
Hanging peripherally
Almost to where I sort of see
And I haven’t yet figured
If they’re friendly

He is soul groove
Pops on in
Busts a move
And goes on out
Again
Leaving me wanting more
Here I sit
Watching the door

Money talks
But it don't sing and dance and it don't walk
And long as I can have you here with me
I'd much rather be forever in blue jeans
Honey's sweet
But it ain't nothin' next to baby's treat
And if you'd pardon me, I'd like to say
We'd do okay forever in blue jeans
Maybe tonight
Maybe tonight, by the fire
All alone, you and I
Nothing around but the sound
Of my heart and your sighs
Money talks
But it can't sing and dance and it can't walk
And long as I can have you here with me
I'd much rather be forever in blue jeans, babe
And honey's sweet
But it ain't nothin' next to baby's treat
And if you'll pardon me, I'd like to say
We'd do okay, forever in blue jeans
Maybe tonight
Maybe tonight, by the fire
All alone, you and I
Nothing around but the sound
Of my heart and your sighs

Mister
Ain’t you gonna change those clothes?
It’s a sorta cute outfit
I suppose
But pretty soon
That whole ensemble
Is gonna get up and walk on its own

You beautiful wuss
Imperfect and faulted you be
Pretending to ignore me
All publicly
But you and I both know
You come to see
Invisibly
Your superpower
In this realm
Andre the Mighty!
Is invisibility
Which happens to be
A handicap for me

Most times we pray
And we’re not on our knees
So we forget we’re praying
Sometimes we’re taking things for granted
And forgetting to be thankful
And give homage to that which is greater than myself
The Rhythmic
Nature
Miracles
And failures
Hoping
To not fail
And rely on
Rhythm
Not miracles
Sometimes
We reject
It gets boring after a while
Rhythm
Sometimes we do it in large groups
**** gets real with the rhythm
When the rhythm twangs too much off key
All asunder it goes
Rhythm with no flow
Scribbles on a paper,
Cross other colors
Make a unique mix
Maybe cross again one day
But God is better than me, so God sees those squiggles in different colors.  
Maybe God thinks I have a unique- colored
Squiggle
But that’s probably what everyone
Thinks

I want to get under your skin
Infect your within
Shot of my witch’s brew
It might make you itch
Though
At first
Then thirst
You feel the spirit of me
Almost physically
Vibrationally
Thirst turns to burn
The pilot light
Is on
Fuel parasite
Maybe useful it be
We will see