Discounted Poetry

The sky is falling apart On us again today, A subtle ripple mellow overhead. We keep the afternoon together, Never-ending Russian novels, Intricate poetry, Mugfuls steaming fresh with darkest coffee (Yours with hazel chocolate colorings of creamer), Pillows tossed occasionally For a playful stirring Of the quiet atmosphere. Your sweater covers a couple  Of the couch's cushions As your mess of crazy auburn hair Is spilled onto my denim lap. We share the warmest hours, Intimate and lazy, While I pretend I'm unaware You're seeing him. - 4/30/26

There's a rawness On the back side Of his foot. Another cinnamon sunset. The heat fumes ripple the horizon rust Like parachutes in the hands of children playing, Like fitted sheets about to be stretched tight Around the rumpled mattress. The label's peeling from his chilly IPA. Too many evenings He discovers himself here, The beer an introduction To the night Before the rye finds him And puts him sloppily to bed. The gas is over five a gallon, So he's taken to walking himself Across the oven walks and blistered streets To places she has never been. His boots are wearing a bit into his heel. He can forget it most of the time, But some nights, the open ache's impossible To ignore. She preferred wine bars She glided on Prosecco. - 4/29/26

When you heard She stole my Evening, Did I sense A faintness Palpable? A slightest Movement, Hand run down The table, I'd throw a rock And shatter Every red light In this damnable town. - 4/28/26

The turn, The twist, It's all within the wrist. Did you catalogue desires Ordered alphabetically by names And oral preferences? The mystery of mechanisms Declines with time. Does every entry finally Caress the same? When everything is codified As organized results, The magic dissipates Into the cool yet blinding clarity Of science, A kiss, Performance. Passion proves A misremembered myth, A legend lost to youth And bona fide fools Ignorant to life In adult reality. - 4/27/26

In the urban river overwhelming, Fluid faces through the pavement Rushing to the seas, She's beautifully distinct. You start to wade And catch her humid eyes. You realize it’s her Again. The end is never changing. She is rushing ecstasy, Orgasmic lightness. She's not her In spirit or in flesh, Although you'll always crave, An addict who can't swallow this Without the world Expiring in hazy half-time. Not a single taste. The word Is never knotted, But seldom what you wish. Amen. Continue on the starving waves, Hollow on your hungry way. - 4/24/26

The cost of her prior mistake, The smidge of frosting On another birthday cake, The ants in rows advancing... Morsels Of her life That rise and drop On top the tides, The currents ever flowing Slowly down. Some days While driving home She fantasizes Oven air with Him against her mouth, The house and family impossible, A twitching jerk that sends the car Into the concrete wall Beneath the bridge That's always under repair. - 4/23/26

My father Sat me on the fading vinyl-covered stool His grandfather sat him upon And placed the order exactly the same As then, Lime sherbet, The impermanence of objects  - Like a vector hallway -  Only outlines green Yet possibly sweet. Her grin entices, Tempting, Promising nothing But a moment's sugar tang On top the tongue. The seat beside me At the soda fountain countertop Is always empty. - 4/22/26

We bow before The polished mirror, But it never speaks. It never says a word We need And we are thirsty. Stars are forming Beyond the night, In galaxies we can't imagine. By the time we see their light, They're dead. - 4/21/26

The sun has pinned the sky Against the hottest unforgiving heavens, Bluest butterfly Now fallen out the jar. I see you clearer now Than we can ever see ourselves. I read your life by braille. The ocean only earns its reputation for awe In thoughts beneath the recovering moon. The sweeter air Is creeping quietly Across the morning mountain trail. - 4/20/26

The honeycomb, A hanging mess Delicious. Scrape it Bare. She's still not sure. The buzzing is surprisingly Entrancing, Ensnaring. If you choose to flee, Escape Will not Be painless. - 4/11/26

He floated to the surface, Top of the manosphere cesspool, And with his gelled-up hair and racist tattoo, He is taking her from you. He offers you a bourbon, Smirking, "Me, I never touch the stuff now," As he takes a quiet sip. In minutes, He will challenge you to pushups After interrupting questions and criticisms. She is hanging on his arm Beneath the AR-15 ink. He muses, "Who'd have thought... They kicked me out, And now I'm back to rule With lists of names, Girls, Minorities. You bleeding hearts, You think a peace is possible Without a final ending, When enemies are still alive," He sneers, And still, I cannot understand Whatever she is seeing, Leaving for this little boy, The tiny fake pretending, Heading for a gossip column And a vicious entry In history books. She'll regret, Deny it all one day Escaping to her next mistake. - 4/16/26

The rising sun's a waking baby Startled fresh. I didn't slant the blinds. The room is slathered butterscotch. I see her fired face, Her hair a darkened statement on the pillow, But asleep, awake, I am unsure if she's a hopeful dream Or melancholic echo Yesterday, tomorrow. Shut the shades And brew the coffee. Either way, She's phantom flesh, Desire disconnected, Running lost and wild, Forfeited home. What did you expect to find Beside you In the morning? - 4/15/26

The gentle breezes Sent seductive waves throughout Her purple curtain. She simmered a mess of curried lentils Telling of the years now past she wandered, Years of pain and victory, Of deaths and births of sorts, On desert routes and teeming ports Across the everlasting ocean. The scent was bright and heavy, Weighing down the air Beneath a pungent steam Within her cozy kitchen, Scent of cumin and cardamon, Her sweaty skin The watered earth. - 4/14/26

The forty days and nights Engulfed our world. Storms carried homes and highways Off forever, But they left a land Reset and ready. She is resting shoeless feet On top the dash And points to every license plate From another state. She once complained Whenever my free hand Wasn't on her thigh Instead the gear. Raspberry vines afire Blaze above her head, About the open window. The clouds are shrinking In the rearview. Rain is still a pleasant teasing Laced between unsteady Breezes. - 4/13/26

The day did not sleep enough last night. The day's considering adding highlights. The day is crying and doesn't know why. The day's investing too much in AI. The day is rubbish holding its liquor. The day is sure it can never forget her. The day's a subtle glowing lime green. The day is out of its Vaseline. The day is turning out to be leaky. The day believes your date is scary and freaky. The day has lost no time shifting the blame. The day is busy with tabletop games. The day is always too narcissistic. The day's eternally optimistic. The day believes in original sin. The day is hungry to kiss you again. The day's forgotten who is the boss. The day is making the sign of the cross. The day is taking it out for a spin. The day is stretching the hours too thin. The day's awaiting a turn in its luck. The day hopes you take it out for a suck. The day is wondering if you should bother. The day reminds you you're still not your father. The day is sure its pla...

I travel with a hardback In my backpack. She believes I wouldn't Trade in my threadbare book For a night with Louise Brooks. She believes in many things Like crystals, Biorhythms. We thought the train Unusual. A quirky travel method Crossing states. I never look before. I never look behind. I barrel down the train tracks Leaving others reading gravel, Tea leaves in my wake. That night A nightclub hunger Shone, a spotlight From her well-washed face Inside the shaking private car. Today, a lifetime more, Her lipstick and her blush Glow without a smear. She pries her eyes Above her phone And stares a second Bored. The station's racing near. - 4/9/26

She is sliding slick, The suds inside a car wash Down the window, Wiping clean the city streets Outside. The planets in the sky Have strayed. The stars confide She notices. I'm craving Taste, Her sweat across  Her milky chest, Her pinkest red Against my lips. She sports a sable bob, A subtle smile, And a wicked sway About her stride. I ache For just a nip, God, please, A hint of thickest salt To coat my fingertips. The world's a wrecked disaster After all, It cannot matter. - 4/8/26

Sizzle glasses fluted Stand beside The brandy syrup Mixed in reddest wine. The fumes alone will stagger your stride. The bowls are spilling over. Raspberry sauce. She's never Guzzled candied air Before. The walls are leaning to, The floor's a parachute Exhaling. Shoes and more are missing But no loss. He approaches flimsy Walking on a trampoline. His lips are moving mute, His sliding tongue between Is waltzing silently. She's off her feet An inch beneath The dangling tears  Below the chandelier. The tent is coming Down around her. Blessed be the waves. - 4/7/26

After prom, The big game, As they sweep the streets Beneath the sunrise, Do you find you're hanging on? The holiday, The love affair, The ice cream cone, The hours on the sofa In the melting light Alone. You thought you found a home, But even husbands Fade inside the fighting And go away. He jumped the gun, You see, Misreading his needy heart As if he can't decipher His own handwriting. You gave up everything. There's no one now Beside you In the dead and hollow quiet On the morning after Easter. - 4/6/26

In my teenage years, I wore a wooden cross Across my heart, Remembering, Committing all. The more my years, My life's increasingly A vain and cheap invention, Yet I grip it tighter. My sincere intention, Traveling the bloody steps The man of sorrows Pushed into the brutal dirt Before, Is hung with doubt And heavy stubborn fingers Curled so stiff about  Another empty twenty,  Thirty years of breathing Lacking purpose, promise. Do I grasp and cling From mere inertia,  Common groove of habit, A dependent thoughtlessness? Do I adore my sorry self This much? Thinking of my splintered pendant, I hear the whisper, "Follow me," And fear. - 4/3/25

Forgiveness Is a fragile Toothpick spine, Eggshell bone, Crunched beneath My angry sole Every time I spy you Yet again. - 4/2/26

I'm never ready When she drops that word Into her sister's lap And hurries off, A naughty child, Or how she pinches, Twists my nipple Till it stings, The laugh she blossoms From her chest Whenever I pronounce Often with a T. I know her cherished pleasures, Her instinctive habits, How she takes her coffee, But she's still a stranger. In the field, We mash a mesh of fingers Letting sunlight drip through Like river water. Everything escapes And slips right through, No matter how we press So tightly. - 4/1/26