Sunday, May 17, 2009

Excuses

Thunder rumbled this morning,
rain tap dancing on the black-tar
streets below. I was going to
mop the floor,
do some laundry,
run out the door, get some groceries --
but there was no sunrise;

so much for a day at the beach,
someone must be sighing.

Does it make it a better day
for doing housework?

Grumbling thunder, rain tap
tapping against the windows.

I don't think so.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

storm

4.59pm

In the office pantry, we watch
from 13 floors up, and curse
at the bloated clouds: fat
gray rams tramping on the edge
of the blue horizon, waiting
for us to leave the office.


6.30pm

The rain smacks down, warm
like globs of spit; the wind
steers them sideways to get
at us under our umbrellas;
shoes land in unexpected puddles,
pickling feet in sweat and slush.


7.30pm

Storm drains cough and sputter; water
winds through constipated traffic;
flower brushes, tropic palms,
young saplings fall over
and drown; and the rain drops
dance and skips on their floating limps.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Confess

I broke it.

But I wish someone else did --
It's got to be that guy
who used it before me.

Quick! get the superglue
or some sticky tape!
Maybe I can fix the damn thing
before it's found out.

Too late!
A passing witness sees
the two pieces,
"what happened to this?"

Lips flap like a tent
giving way to wind;
words sputter out:
excuses --
useless --
sentences can't come
together, make sense,
fast enough.

I'm caught.
It was me.

I broke it.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Caretaker

the caretaker


irrelevant, yet

as necessary as
a shredder, or
a coffee maker

being polite, you refer
to him as “uncle”
only because you

don’t know his name
and you don’t care to

after all, he is not
a part of the work
you do

until something left
on the desk last night
goes missing the next morning

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Strangers

Strangers

We had been roommates
for five peaceful years;
we never argued
or crossed lines;
we avoided conflicts
by avoiding words.

On her last day they passed
a Hallmark card around;
when it came to me,
a blank space amongst the squibbles
of cheery signatures waited,
anticipating something shared
and memorable.

I thought for a while
and signed my name.