We were simple workers,
scurrying through our garden hills:
the black and earthen buildings.
We sought union, moving en-masse.

Steam rose from the throng:

Wallace fell in love
with Mary. You know
the feeling: of diving
off cliffs into oceans:
the impending Smack!
The ultimatum:
sink or swim.

Mary swims in cultural
circles. You know the

I recognize that guilty look!
Your dejected, darting glances that
mop the floor, betray the internal
struggle of conscience. What a feeble
soul must let slip these evil acts!

The Gall!

The cushion on the barstool
is depressed
by buns of hot-soaked sponge.

The tacks keep the leather
in place
despite the stress and strain.

Maybe with time my stool
will crack

An orange rose drifts and swirls on bubbly water.
Three steps
A yellow rose begins to wind downstream, creating
a new path but naturally follows the same direction.

Tonight! Tonight, enthusiasm garbles the words
as he spits the lines, "some matters are
more important than others!"

Lights change on cue to spot variations
in method, and the actor moves

Crumbling red,
red bricks
lashed together
with grey, water-
tight ropes.
The colors bathe,
bleeding red-
orange.

It’s a destiny
defying erection:
ready, to collapse
breathless,

Understated by the circumstances,
Joy is thinly shaped among the stalls.
Stamped on the rim, I suppose it was
just coincidence how the coarse strands
of hair had fallen, stringy, into Joy.

I didn't know,
I didn't know,
I didn't know
that it was not
a ladybug:

the awkward
way it flew and
trundled across
the cherry desk.

I thought I saw
a shopping cart
and kerchief on