the poems on this page:



< small words >
< celebrating glass >
< poems are cheap TV >

< babysitting for ginger >
< ginger says grace >
< ginger's ice cream country >

< hello world >
< it must be afternoon >
< he hit her >

< tiny little actually very small >





    < small words >
    
    watching 
    tilts the limit
    works the connection
    of what you saw 
    and 
    what i'll do
    soon
    these small words
    i measured this one
    at less than a centimeter
    these small words
    are all we have to do
    no music 
    or even 
    if you're reading this
    a voice
    just the ability 
    to appeal 
    to the prejudice 
    that lives inside your head
    and these small words
    dismiss them if you will
    are always
    the ones that kill
    
           - - -
    



    < celebrating glass >
    
    at this moment 
    when you read this line
    and this line
    and this
    
    i want to help you celebrate 
    your parts of glass
    
    how much we try 
    for flexibility
    when all 
    we really want to do
    is break
    
          - - -
    
     

    < poems are cheap TV >

  if you want the truth
  don't expect to find it here
  i'll tell you anything 
  to get you 
  to read these things

  if you want the truth
  look back
  it's what you had for breakfast

            - - -




  < babysitting for ginger >
    
    i was in love 
    and she let me fuck her
    
    but mainly to pay 
    for the babysitting
    
    her love was always 
    somewhere else
    
    anyway
    
    i liked her daughter 
    and the pay was great
    
           - - -
    



      < ginger says grace >
    
    it's thanksgiving 
    at ginger's parents
    and ginger is saying
    a beautiful grace
    before dinner 
    and i'm there because her real boyfriend 
    is a biker with too many tattoos
    and would cause too much trouble 
    and besides 
    her daughter 
    also a ginger 
    performs much better 
    when i'm there
    so i get to live my fantasy
    
    here's ginger my love
    (and she really is) 
    sitting beside me
    and we laugh together 
    and our daughter across the table 
    charms her grandmother
    and the turkey is wonderful
    and the mashed potatoes and stuffing 
    are better 
    and i'm doing a great job
    playing the fiancee 
    for this family
    who wants so much to believe 
    that i have made her whole again
    and we continue 
    to have a wonderful time 
    even while ginger 
    is throwing up in the guest bathroom
    
                - - -




  < ginger's ice cream country >
    
    only today
    i got this letter from ginger 
    saying the last few years
    hadn't turned out so well
    
    but that can change fast
    she said 
    there's lots of hope lying around
    so next year
    i might just be writing you
    from my sofa garden
    smack in the middle 
    of ice cream country
    
             - - -




                < hello world >
    
    i have some things to say to the world 
    and this isn't one of them
    but i like those shoes you're wearing 
    where did you get those? 
    c'mon 
    you can tell me 
    
                     - - -
        




    < it must be afternoon >
    
    worries 
    come and go in an afternoon
    but most of us will be around 
    a little longer
    my mother says 
    as i 
    say maybe it's time you came to live with us
    after all we used to live with you
    and she thinks 
    what i said
    is funny
    and i don't know 
    what to do with her
    and i don't have 
    any kids myself
    so no one 
    won't know what 
    to do with me
    
    oh
    
    it must be afternoon
    
         - - -
    



       < he hit her >
    
    he hit her 
    and watched the bruises 
    take weeks to turn to yellow
    
    he took his fist 
    and punched her breast 
    as hard as he could
    and watched her face
    as she fell to the floor
    
    and someday 
    he'll be honest enough
    to say it was me
     
           - - -
     



   < tiny little actually very small >
        
        a thousand 
        would fit in your hand
        but drop them
        and come over here
        we'll clean up later
        
               - - -
        

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