Saturday, April 13, 2013

30 poems in 30 days: 13

Q.  and A.

Q.    When will you die?

A.    Not this morning     not in the middle of April
                                                                     snow hanging
        like periods      no       like ellipses       in gray air        troubling
                the kitchen window
                                                      Two birds leap from
        branch to      branch        showering snow
              on frozen puddles
                                                    Curled onto the loveseat
                                                                               the dog
               thumps her tail in a dream
                                               eyes rolled     into her skull

Q.    What is your purpose?

A.    I must        disturb the order         of people and things
                 I need to         make trouble

                 After all         nothing itches more     under my skin

        than a classroom full of        silent students      their eyes cast
                     down or    trained on          empty windows

         hands loose on the tables

Q.    Is there a god?

A.    Sometimes          I watch Lizzie
                                                             while she bends
        smiling       over a book     or her phone      or her computer
                long neck      her father's neck       lit yellow
                         by soft lamplight     
                                                         gaze melted into herself
           
                  generous lips       her father's lips       pursed into a small smile
                 
                  long thick hair     her father's hair      spilling down
                        wide shoulders     my shoulders      my narrow eyes
                                                                                her father's cornflower blue    
                                                           
                                                          and before she looks up
                                             before she catches me
                                     trying to memorize her beautiful face
                       I shout at her in my mind:    

                                                                   hey kid    sweetie     darling
              sugar pie         I hope you know how much I
                        love you        so much I want to             crack myself open
                                      and bleed all over        the world


 
       

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