the poems on this page:.
< sylvia plath is my mother >
< these stars treat us too well >
< it seems bees have a notion of honor >
.
< ginger >
< ginger writes me >
< ginger shows up >
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< sylvia plath is my mother >.
sylvia plath is my mother
i
practiced cutting my finger like her
a few weeks ago
it was
exactly as she said
she
is perfect
the perfect poet
risking everything
and
losing it
and
gaining it
at the same time
i look
at her picture
posted
just to the right of my computer
just beside gary snyder
and the one
smoothly lives
and the other
roughly dies
but looking at the words
left behind
for all i know
they sit side by side
maybe even kiss me in my love for them
mirror images
reflecting paths
down which
any of us
can go
- -
. . . . .
< these stars treat us too well >
- after a sylvia plath poem
.
the stars drop silently
each message lit
through years and years
of vacuum
evaporated
all the first sweet essence
until us
poor souls of lead once uranium
linger
turn
like jupiter
who thinks he's mercury
like saturn
who wants to be distant pluto
willing to give up her rings
for a far dark silence
- - -
. . . . .
< it seems bees have a notion of honor >
(after reading a poem by sylvia plath)
.
my fantasy
poor fantasy
i am not crazy or genius enough to come to you
but after reading this
i want
to keep you close
to find out more
i know
you were a complete trouble in this life
born
at a wrong angle
born
with the pain to shout this loud
and louder and louder
to greet us
with your puzzle
with your furious capacity
to fill us
til we burst
- - -
. . .
.
.
< ginger >
ginger
looks
at the silhouette of the target
as she aims her gun
ginger
squeezes
the trigger of the gun
her gun lover
like a cock in her hand
she is sucking
waiting
to swallow
- - -
.
.
.
< ginger writes me >
.
the words
fall one after the other
put there by ginger
by you
if you're ginger
one after the other
with the picture you enclosed
of your daughter
and of course
you
would name her ginger too
the ginger that lived with me
from a child of 4 to 6
while you were off
for holding those drugs
a long time ago
but ginger
came through just fine
and at 22
she looks like you
same hair and nose and all the
soft pieces fit together
so i can't help thinking
maybe
it's you again
- - -
.
.
.
.
.
< ginger shows up >
.
ginger shows up
on her boyfriend's motorcycle
says her mom
is up to herself again
and i guess i have to help
which will piss off my wife
cause she's guessed
what i never told her
but i hop on
arms
around her waist
trying not to act
like i feel her breasts
with each bump in the road
and thinking of when
i used to bathe her
of those sweet lips
between her legs
- - -
.
.
.