aayoung

icy cold

tree houses

moose dodging

drafts

there are holly berries

on the white mug

year round

nostalgia n’ junk

strumming

american tunes

happy memories

are as inevitable

as

springtime

world encased in ice

but i am hot and steamy

fuck you weather man

drowsy
porch swing
on mother’s day
each pass and creak
wave goodbye
to the
southern sun

over
blue grass
covering
red clay
twenty years
since our last
genuine word

laughing at
lightning bugs
who are
drunk on moonshine
they can’t walk
a straight line
either

ralph stanley sings
o’ death
brother asks sister
when i’m moving
back down home

i say when
i can do it
in a
batesville casket

your  scarf

blew off as

your white

horse soldiered

away

i saved it

from the ice

from ohio

god how

i kissed you

one more time

please one more time

a single goodbye

became three

the world

is unmaking

as we dance with the stars

black tie mandatory

gas mask optional

knit a blanket from

cockscomb blossoms

press beehives into

heavy books

sit and feast upon

a pomegranate in december

as things winged

forget their way

four chambers

each with

an efferent key

such travels these skeletons have seen

one buried

one sold

one given to a trusted friend

and one without question

i will never see again

still awake

floating near the ceiling

in sheets of spun honey

wearing a cat on a hot tin slip

can’t help but consider

two yesterdays

a lifetime ago

in the town painted above the bed

vincent spun

those burning stars

and blue

rooftops

for you to see them

reflected in my

bourbon eyes drinking in

the early morning sunlight

vinyl spinning victrola worlds

you have known my brunette

countless times

yet

never knew me

until the

evening you followed me

into a used record store

and smiled at me

from the punk rhythm and blues aisle

musical voyeur

then

were brazen enough

to silently motion me to

accompany you

into the bookstore across the street

i willingly come knowing

of course i did

your fedora orbits me

unwritten poems

drum line

beats down

stolen glances

between stacks

you pretend to read

ray carver

as you look at my heels

and the way i look in levi’s and a blazer

knowing i would look better

wearing nothing

but

you

forever

i

agree

this pompeian queen
perceived too late
the insidious tremble
a harbinger
within her vessel of wine

this pompeian queen
gazed with amber eyes
as daylight shattered
to the ground
and jupiter’s screams raced
smoldering across the sky

this pompeian queen
watched as juno fell
cast from the mounted nirvana
the divine impact rupturing sacred membranes of the earth

this pompeian queen
felt blood erupt
from her womb
cursing the horrid
celestial lovers
she fell to her knees

this pompeian queen
cried out
the name of her king
before being buried
in merciless fire

this pompeian queen
exists in robes now woven
from ash
memory held together
by string theory

this pompeian queen
died reaching for her king

love to be unearthed
in the coming
forever

I consider that Friday and

now remember

it was the machines tearing

at her flesh

that woke me

my bones ached

my back the shape of a train seat

 and I

could no longer ignore

the sounds

I walked through your

nearly abandoned sanctuary

past the chair sittin’ chairs

the blinds were open

I gazed through your mind’s glass

the branches across the street were moving

I assumed that was the only crime scene

xylem and phloem dripping off their hands

and down the rigging

I was unsettled

began picking blackberries

I’m so sorry I left our nest that morning…

You were right to feel it all that way

to speak those words in red…

I decided I would feel less scalded if I

went to look at her

I needed the soft company of another woman

confusion began to strangle me

Was I not at the right window?

I ran to the bedroom desperately

clung to the ledge

that’s when I looked down and saw her

four leaves remained

fingers covered with blood

I gasped and cried out

For You

For Her

thought of the leaf in the back of the book

the love poems that were penned

homage to her limbs and grace

how I loved the way you looked at her

I began to rue the day

feared guilt by association

fuck that be strong now

what do I do?

no stopping

inevitable crashes

I realize I am grateful to be the messenger

possessing legs to stand beside you

arms to cradle you with warmth

eyes to look at you with hope

a willing heart to love you through all of it

a grateful voice to say

You are my cause

it

was i who

materialized

from distant ether

plucked you seductively

from the air

and other worldly pursuits

with one look

notions of you

at public gatherings

a wanton glance

across a dinner party

your tuxedo pushing into

my backless gown

you found my thigh

as you looked for your

keys and train ticket

we have almost touched

how does one explain

why you want

a particular

mouth

hair

skin

eyes

body pressed to yours

soul to sit within

forbidden fruit tastes better upon the tongue

neither of us low hanging

our singular juices far more

delicious

we have held this stare

for so long

dancing near

we could be a neruda poem

you speak to me as if i am a world lying in surrender

a lifetime of desire

in

one night

forever

this is

why

i chose you

in

my

words