Poetry 365

(For PCH)

And this silly wire
(which some consider essential)
Connected us
And we came together

So I put my arms around you to keep you
From falling from a tree
(there is evidence that you have climbed
too far up and are not at all functional
with this atmosphere or terrain)
And if I had a spare
I’d lend you my oxygen tent

But you know how selfish people are
When they have something at stake

So we sit between a line of
Daggers
And if all goes well

They will write Someday
That you and I did it

And we never even thought for sure
(if thought was one of the processes we employed)
That it could be done

(No Name No. 1)

And every now and then I think
About the river

Where once we sat
Upon the bank
Which
You robbed

And I let you
Wasn’t it fun

I always like summer
best
you can eat fresh corn
from daddy’s garden
and okra
and greens
and cabbage
and lots of
barbecue
and buttermilk
and homemade ice-cream
at the church picnic
and listen to
gospel music
outside
at the church
homecoming
and go to the mountains with
your grandmother
and go barefooted
and be warm
all the time
not only when you go to be
and sleep

i can be
alone by myself
i was
lonely alone
now i’m lonely
with you
something is wrong
there are flies
everywhere
i go

the world is not a pleasant place
to be without
someone to hold and be held by

a river would stop
its flow if only
a stream were there
to receive it

an ocean would never laugh
if clouds weren’t there
to kiss her tears

the world is not
a pleasant place to be without
someone

(For BMC No. 2)

There are fields where once we walked
Among the clover and crab grass and those
Funny little things that look like cotton candy

There were liquids expanding and contracting
In which we swam with amoebas and other Afro-Americans

The sun was no further than my hand from your hair

Those were barefoot boy with cheeks of tan days
And I was John Henry hammering to get in

I was the camel with a cold nose

Now, having the tent, I have no use for it
I have pushed you out

Go ‘way
Can’t you see I’m lonely

those things
which you so laughingly call
hands are in fact two
brown butterflies fluttering
across the pleasure
they give
my body

ever want to crawl
in someone’s arms
white out the world
in someone’s arms
and feel the world
of someone’s arms
it’s so hot in hell
if i don’t sweat
i’ll melt

(Ballantine and Snow)
In iron cells

we all start
as a speck
nobody notices us
but some may hope
we’re there
some count days and wait

we grow
in a cell that spreads
like a summer cold
to other people
they notice and laugh
some are happy
some wish to stop
our movement

we kick and move
are stubborn and demanding
completely inside
the system

they put us in a cell
to make us behave
never realizing it’s from cells
we have escaped
and we will be born
from their iron cells
new people with a new cry

i remember learning you jump
in your sleep and smile
when you wake up

at first you cuddle
then one arm across my stomach
then one leg touching my leg then
you turn your back

but you smile when you wake up

i was surprised to know you don’t care
if your amp burns all night and that you could
play ohmeohmy over and over again just
because you remembered

i discovered you don’t like hair
in your bathroom sink and never step
your wet feet onto a clean rug

you will answer your phone
but you don’t talk too long and you do
rub my toes and make faces
while you talk
and your voice told her anyway
that i was there

you can get up at three and make sandwiches
and orange juice and tell jokes
you sometimes make incoherent sentence
you snore
and you smile when you wake up

i know you cry when you’re hurt
and curse when you’re angry
and try when you don’t feel
like it and smile at me
when you wake up

these things i learned through
a simple single touch
when fleshes clashed