Glendale


go to the opposite side of town if you want to steal a bike

cross a busy street named after a president or named

prairie du chien & pass tom’s meat market

so that premeditation dictates observation dictates

the opening of eyes to empathy


the seat torn from use & low gear wheel stuck on two

& porch door open & stairs unquiet; the lifting required a lifting

the hands placed on body on handle & with an inhale

a glide downstairs; i check the sides of bikes swiping by before my eyes


realize that what is gone leaves no trace

tangibility dependent upon the pads of my fingers;

i see it everywhere & i touch nothing






Solar Cycle


I took a pill for five days

to shed my uterine lining.


             I had enjoyed the pauses

             in which I could forget biological duty;


                          but it’s all natural, the pull

                          & pool of blood.


                              Under the eclipse the temperature dropped

                              & lake water crashed harder.


                                           Birds sang goodbye

                                             & under this the blood was called.


                                                        It collected at the kiss of my thighs

                                                        & was held by this self-holding


                                                        just as the sand held my set of footprints;

                                                        my shadow carried in my own arms.


                                           I am my own god. As I willed for totality

                                           the most of us cheered, while others joined me in silence.


                              Phenomenon moves so quickly through us.

                              Corona met cornea. Blood met water.


                          O Luna, how sweet it was to see you like this.

                          Black & new, like fresh blood clotting.