0

zip-zilch-nothing
nada-nothing-love
apparitional,  fictional,
spectral,  figmental,
delusive,  illusive,
abstract,  unreal,
imagined, un-bodied.

You, on your steady subtractive diet,
crossing your ankles in a subway car,
you can write beneath the footbridge,
"I was never here, "
but it will never be true. So be whole.

Taken, Not Found

These days I hold my anger
beneath my tongue like a charm.
Spent all my nights pining
for joy like some left lover.

[The griefmongers hoist up their billyclubs
The griefmongers howl from the satellites
The griefmongers polish collection plates
The griefmongers sleep soundly every night]

These days I realize
happiness must be taken,
pried from between smashed knuckles,
pulled from between gritted teeth.

30/30: The Things You Thought You Needed

Those golden slippers will not fit you

after your feet callus from  gravel.

Your amulet to save you from witches

was hasty; it nips at your dreams

like papercuts, now that you’ve

started hoarding white sage, eyebright,

and rosemary. And all the men

on white horses that pass through this town

are looking for women sleepier than you,

who prefer their kisses stolen, not given,

who wake only to promises less pedestrian

than a dog’s warm lick and the thought

of sausages on a cast-iron pan.