Roaches

The thought of roaches
makes my skin itch
the same way
thoughts of lice
send my finger nails
heading for the hills
of my hair

i don't want to be in my flesh
want to scratch it off
and toss
all my belongings
in plastic bags
out in the driveway for all the
eyes of suburbia
to graze upon...

i come bearing the brown spots
of your worst memories
with legs scurrying
out of your vision
to live in
your subconscious
the past creeps to the present
we are elephants haunted
by mice.

I was only ever joking about everything

In an attempt to erase
actions
I reinforce and
inflate them.

Forget any impact my words had
I just took them back.

Just kidding.

The Problem with the Interstate Highway System

I'm sleeping in tents under stars
that I wish would burn with more fury
on windy nights that should be so much colder
to make each breath as dire
as the very act of being alive fails to be.

I've had an address at every
goddamned strip mall and hospital
at one time or another -
Let me claw at the crust of the earth
Since we've tamed the frontier
I'll try to imagine it roaring
while I listen to the crackling static of my clock radio.

Let me jump out of every plane
into every raging sea on this complacent earth
and drown
Empty my lungs and you'll just find bathwater. I guarantee.
But that's the problem.

I might sing you a song again.
You never know.

a poem about my job

the tray becomes lighter each day
sometimes i think i could spin around with it - tada!
the ebb and flow of knowledge
wait and see
when you wait you see
sometimes it becomes too much
but you must stare it in the face
and smile at it
and ask it if it would like more coffee

have you signed up for our monthly flier?
i haven't.

Hi Hi Hi HI HIHIHI

Apparition, I am
Siamese twins
My soul and my skin
In this together
To separate would mean
To no longer breath
So we share a pulse and breath
Only one brain
Vibrations maintain
That two different things
Can share the same name.

Like Birds Bubble Wrap

Birds and bubble wrap are
like
well, you know what they're
like.

I liked, I think, unless, well, that's not the right word
But they use it all the time
to say what
I've been trying
since I was ten
I must have liked to pop
to fly
like
I've been trying.

Someone, always someone, and I
popped it all
and fed them rice
to see if they'd explode
if they'd pop
if they liked each other

In the dark,
I always liked them better
Only hear the sound
of hands squeezing
plastic popping
bird-bellies blowing up
breaking open
the ones I
liked

Is that even the right word?
Were (we're) always remembering
something
like
birds and bubble wrap
No, it's not the right word at all.