The Last Time

the last time I saw you

was like hooked fish on a sleeping line

a brief thrash in the exhaustion

of the ever present end

and the farther away the days between get

it wasn’t meant to go well

it was just meant to get

the denouement of act III

le entrevue of the next character

doomed forever to the shadow of your timing

lost forever in the oceans of schools

not only not got but certainly not get

not you in the thrash

not you in the unexpected loss

not you in the quiet need to lie

that this certainly couldn’t be

the last time I saw you

Would you like fries with that?

Wearable names,

wash-and-go personalities,

disposable mores

in a drive-thru world,

I’ll take life #5, plain and dry,

fluffed and folded,

branded anew.

Geography

her legs are at a rock concert, but the top of her is at the opera
her stomach’s stuck in the fall of New York
her eyes are swimming countless hours of a childhood summer
her ears are aboard the U.S.S. Dallas
her spine’s just arrived at Whispering Oaks
the back of her head is laying bricks
while her toes taunt evolution
and her left thumb makes a break for it
her first two chakras are lost in the woods making their way to grandma’s
her tongue is busy making pot pies
while her teeth collect dust in a box in Russia (Stalin never being able to believe for sure)
and part of her heart, yes, is in San Francisco

Passage

more

or less we’re bound

to roll down the river

to skate the ice flows

cracking up

our antics unimpressive

but enjoyable

nonetheless

not the less

for the scraped knees

and the bee stings

the hesitations if you will

and determinations

you must see

we must do

whether for or against

the to and fro

the sinister lip

and the rough-hewn jaw

the tears inexplicable

the monologue cliché

still

we must collude once more

our dizzying collisions

appropriate if dire

we must celebrate

we must chance despair

Classifieds

Well-polished nonstandard-sized gilt thumbtack
seeks similarly shiny furniture polish
for good times and conversation,
late-summer solstice rain dances need not apply.

Post-December sun warriors seek employment
with crisply laced herringbone corsets
for mutually beneficial hierarchal repartee
on a contractual basis.

Disavowed potentate desperate to move
reprobate Hottentots of erstwhile trysts
with dames of repute. No offer too low.
Delivery unavailable.

Three-hundred thousand boxed lunches
offered as silent protest to personages
of noisy redistribution. Each comes individually
decorated by chipboard wielding clip artists.

Noisy-headed Swiss-cheese maker
in search of like-minded waltz composer
for collaboration in construing an
effectively convincing dénouement.

The Sacred Umbrella

Each finger stings, cracked by the pushing and pulling
of quills shaken free from Rothschild’s porcupine
in the crisply verdant world to the south of south.
In and out, dying red the laces of spun perle cotton,
grown in the desert heat for fortitude against doubt,
binding eight panels of silk from the inhabitants of
the emperor’s private white mulberry trees gathered
from his tea by his long-fingered sly-smiled geishas.
The erstwhile queen, herself, donates her passé
farthingale stays as ribs for the canopy.
Gently attached by notched baleen, discovered by
Yankee whalers lost in the vagaries of time,
to the shaft, hand-carved from the eminent posts
of ash trees blown asunder by unseasonable tsunamis.
Waxed for the elements using the personal hives
of the blind Swiss scientist Francois Huber,
lacquered for the laity with the whispered secrets of the Orient,
blessed as beautiful by the Voodoo priest and his golden Christ
and the asylum escapees bobbing their heads
yes, yes, yes, not since big blue-skyed Nut herself, yes

So is borne, the sacred umbrella.

Christmas Tag

1. What is your Favorite Christmas Movie?
“Her Majesty’s Secret Service”

2. What is your Least favorite Christmas Movie
“It’s a Wonderful Life” (That’s right. That’s what I said.)

3. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Sting’s version of “I Saw Three Ships” is currently my favorite.

4. What Christmas song(s) drives you crazy?
Okay, for some reason, everywhere I go this year they are playing “Little Saint Nick” by the Beach Boys and it is starting to get to me.

5. What is your favorite Christmas drink? (e.g., egg nog, hot chocolate)
Mimosas

6. What is your favorite Christmas memory?
I’m not sure I have just one…but the Denver Christmas where everyone was there and we were all tripping over cousins and I got to experience real snow and we were overwhelmed with good food…that was a good one…

7. What is the best toy/gift you've received on Christmas?
Hmmmm…my doll house was pretty neat…I had the bike Christmas…then there was the iPod Touch I got last year…

8. What is the worst toy/gift you've received on Christmas?
I got a purse from a well-meaning aunt during my least girly-girl phase. Of course, now, if she would like to buy me a purse…

9. What do you LOVE about the holidays?
I like how the most random people just say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to you as you go about your normal routine. During the times when we would normally just ignore each other, in December you start chatting and wishing each other well.

10. What annoys you about the holidays?
People who automatically assume the holidays are going to be a huge burden and consequently miss all the fun.

11. Do you prefer star or angel on top of a Christmas tree? Or something else?
I have a really pretty star for the top of my tree.

12. What is your family favorite recipe at Christmas?
Pecan tasties

13. Are you a Grinch or a Who at Christmastime?
I’m a Who, socks and all.

14. Christmas light displays—love them or hate them?
The more ridiculous the better

15. Santa's at the mall—fun times or creepy?
Okay, I admit it, I’m a little scared of the mall Santa.

16. Christmas cards—do you send them, yes or no?
Yes

17. What is the best thing about Christmas, in your opinion?
The family getting together and showering each other with attention.

18. What is the worst thing about Christmas?
This year: snarky Target commercials.

19. When do you put the tree up and take it down?
I think I’m going to skip the tree this year because I’m not sure where it will fit in my little apartment, but I know the big tree is waiting for me at Mom’s.

20. Out of the 12 Days of Christmas, which day and item would you want your truelove to give to you?
Hello? Five golden rings!

21. Why do you think that Grandma got run over by a reindeer?
A little too much nog in her egg.

22. Who is your favorite reindeer?
Blitzen: the German reindeer

23. Do you believe in Santa Claus?
Yep, and I’ve been very very good.

24. What is your favorite smell at Christmas time?
Whatever’s cooking in my Mom’s kitchen.

25. What would make you happy at Christmas this year?
Everybody happy and healthy at home.