Coworkers

banana

here lies an observer

who hears your dancing in the night

to spend a silent day together

is to visit one small slice of it

tapes and windows

I’m on my side of the building, you’re on yours

I don’t forget that you are there, but swept up in the morning 

I see you down the hallway, remembering

and suddenly it’s a new moment

dust

everybody tells you that you’re beautiful

I don’t wonder if you know

I think of what you think of when brushing your hair 

how the tension lapses 

you were meant to make good, and you really, really do

steak knives

I remember the story you told me and retelling it

again I cry! knowing you

I don’t have to wonder with the procession, why

you’re a lovely guy who never complains

and knows how to be awake in the morning!

in any world, you are welcome

joe

economy of emotion

when your hands push, pull, together

remember you are making magic

what’s in a name?

so seldom hear you speak,

I picture you at home dancing

a wizard of time and love

you’ve been given a boat you

know just how to steer

the city of my life thanks you frequently!

KBBQ

always swagging out

yummy yummm four bowls of soup

I think you get it

I would remember you fondly as I’m dying, if I could

You have always been good to me. Clothespin. Beckoning finger. Tennis ball. If your beast had a name, I would call it. Lock it away for good.

We reach for each other

noticing each other’s hands

pretend we are one animal

splash!

the fork becomes a fulcrum

hey thanks for being nice to me!

like when gum seizes up

and hot tea makes it new

queen of the sawmill

wordlessly and beautiful

she opens the town

10s 10s 10s

she can do it all

fiercest! finest! baddest!

realest of them all…

I get so flustered when you spoon feed me in public

a sense of duty

just one noodle could do it!

tears nearly well up and to the brim I am new

your hands know what the heart must say

gleek

to be grandfathered in

is to know what it means to be crazy 

and want

and have revealed to you through song 

the difference

knuckles

known for years somehow

everybody’s little brother now

you are good, I know it!

roses are red

violets are blue

I think, “heyyyy this guy!”

whenever I see you!

In Afternoon We Create Family

what crawls me to the sun and remembers my name

it’s our parents

the valleys

the sources of our shame

we hold and detangle it together

any friend of my friend is also my friend

remember when our hands touched, and know it was on purpose

I began learning how to love you before we even met

I’ve seen your face before

and somehow it was you who welcomed me

when you were the one who was new

orchard

the trees know your face

birds sing to you directly 

your inner world must be a window

do you open your mouth to the sky?

Must be tiring… being so epic

And awesome

Rest assured…

Cooks know how to love a world

Over and over each day

Former Partner

Kneeling on the carpet I know the work of my life

of my heart

and I’m so thankful for pockets

corn and hay and something scary

WHOA!

I think I’m lost…

but I know I’ll find my way

home is a rock rushed clean by a river

though moment to moment

we learn how to love

Corner Hot! 

I resist the urge to call you by the name of someone who forgives me

who I’ve been grieving in advance

you tell me it’s your brother’s name

and I wonder what you both are like

very good, because I’m here!

you and I have Perfect Days

el mundo y su gente 

that’s all we need for

love

belcher

I get to love someone I love through someone who’s never met them

and I don’t mind one bit!

damn girl, I mean they

I would like to get red in the face with you, laughing in a gutter in Phoenix

we’d make it home safely, full of a new year

that’s how I know love never dies

thank you! thank you! thank you!

saying hello

and waving goodbye

it’s all I can ever say

gagging on bones

my gay best friend LOVED glee

and a walk through the neighborhood revives me!

you and I, we grow side by side

una amiga lleva terciopelo

y juntos aprendemos a aprender

enseñando a cantar el aire

I’m so glad you found a calculator 

it was two deer 

one gold, one silver

but the dolphins will do just fine

in beckoning the water

indie prince from new jersey

perhaps I will learn a real song

thanks to your incessant bullying

I recognize that as a kind of teaching

and break glass in your well

the ocean remembers you

twirling with an arm behind its back

you know how to listen with an ear against

a shell, a chest 

even in my dream, you’re laughing

that’s how I know you are a friend

we share a vision of something nameless

and all the world’s a dance class

Listens to me yap and yap

Inside and out, beautiful!

Nice to everyone

Doesn’t judge me for getting sooo many ice cream samples

Swag in her beanie

Every day working with her is a treat!

Young and learning how to play the piano

I would fight that old man for you

get creative if I had to

it’s okay to be what you are

as long as you can learn from water

I promise to make you more poptarts

I believe you were the first person here to tell me out loud that you loved me

no bad, silly day can change history

linger

all I want for Christmas is a handwritten letter

you gave me what the others wouldn’t

I read it to my sister and make her cry too

I can’t think of you now without

picturing pearls and party people

you open your home and friendship floods in!

on life you’ve taken a new lease

to you I must raise my chalice

wine on the lips

boogie on my hips

congrats!

_____ & _____

there’s always time for a bit of breakfast and coffee

funny how a single conversation can move you from one side of the world to another

on yours, I imagine, the doors remain unlocked

who’s in the kitchen?

such silly business 

so yumm delicious 

I’d be a friend if you need it!

Banana bread

Real  

Yesssss our boy is here!

And he is epic

Never mean to anybody not that I know of…

you know how to make things beautiful

pears poking up in a bowl

a smile everyday on your face!

in your dreams

I’ve been a dancer

in this world, do I still teach?

or was it jazz, jazz, jazz

this guy

somehow knows everybody!

has been everywhere! it seems

your wrinkly brain is strong

please dance with me!

any time

any place

the sun knows your face

let’s go there!

bring it in! let’s hug

ba dum bum bum bum ba dum da da da 

you hear my funky bassline

it’s well within reach

a lover and historian

I see us at the beach

like the end and the way

perhaps nothing happens on the ice

but I’ve imagined your face just inches from mine

lying face up in the night

In this place, you’re beloved

eVeryone’s favorite 

Absolutely epic

Never a bad attitude from this one

I’m sorry I interpreted you so harshly when we met, I think of you fondly now!

palm scraping the bricks

you teach us how to listen

with stones and cards and eye contact

kids these days… am I right?

whimsigoth! glamour!

“Did you get a new piercing?”

we call it spelling

hedera helix

smarty pants college

carried by brides for good luck

eternally green

a christmas carol

“how is everyone today?”

it means to be born

I think we all are dancers

no need to apologize

for you I’ll be happily helpful!

thank you for the extra cherries

Never needs a thing

An apple

D

Indescribable beauty!

A heart

birds first become silent, then fly away

your sister once told me 

about how you sing

are your centuries one, too?

do they echo, does it hum

is it more of a ring

honorable mention

the coffee, the crushes, the glue

I’ll see you on the mountain, capricorn

it just wouldn’t be right without you