Weather Not Permitting

The air is marbled with smoke
The cremation of us all into clouds
Us all raining down on our own parades
By whatever means necessary

Becoming what I’m scared of
Being scared of what I am
Not being scared to be scared
Terrifically terrified, always, of course

Dying is the point of the living is it not?
Where is your elsewhere?
I got lost on my way there
And found myself with yourself in the lines of this poem

Cat Lady

I feel like fighting my demons to life
Beating them until they are cold water forged
With blood that can drip off the stucco ceiling
They can hate me as much as I hate how much I hate hating everything
This is second order malice; easily stuffed into pillow cases

Swiftly my closet turns into a dilapidated Middle Eastern news reel clip
Shred the thirsting threads and wash my brain blood off my fingers
Shake your parents’ hands and say, “how lovely to meet you.”
Tell your grandfather I once had one just like him

Then I start calling everyone whores and bastards
I pour vodka into the punch and pour the punch on my head
Strip the toupee from your aunts’ scalp and stuff it down my throat
Gag it back onto the floor and say,
“I’M A CAT! I’m a crazy cat lady! I’m crazy!”

Uncomfortably hiding my erection every time I hear,
“I’m not angry, I’m disappointed.”
I’m not real and you keep trying to fight me to life
I am just a demon and I will just be left smeared across the walls

Hometown, Ghost Town

At the business lunch, I went to
We ate sushi off a corpse; it kept it colder
Picked rice from my teeth with a sharpened femur
Send the rice to Africa but don’t send this poem
Home to meet your mother where your father could find it
Say, I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed

You can look at him through a kaleidoscope
As dandruff, brush him off
Long middle-finger is an inherited trait
And some writing, burns best
At the bottom of steel trash cans
In alleys during Pittsburgh winters