colors

my orange rose hangs to dry
crisp to the finger and ear

today my body is still yellow
purple and red

nothing should be done
but to let my bruises fade

ESOL

to not have
sock showing
how you choose a
seat to how
you hold yr hands
when passing by an
attractive group of
ppl sitting on a
park bench - the
evening is overcast
and I sit down
on my second choice
and say to myself
don't go home
just yet - sit
down - have a
good seat and
write a damn
poem already,
it has been
months -
ESOL manifest
ESOL is having the tools
but not the words -
ESOL is sitting
inside an autosaved doc
ESOL is shrinkwrap
boiled eggs for
a holiday you've
yet to understand
ESOL is doing it
to assimilate -
I've forgotten
to take time again
like my once favorite loaf -
ESOL is an
approaching dribble
and not having
anyone willing to
teach, or to only
receive coach cards
because your gay black
friend didn't think
you cared enough
about football anyway
to want to have a
Deion Sanders or a
Randall Cunningham or
whoever the hell that
was who played for
the Minnesota Vikings
you decide that
was your favorite team.
never have a
clear idea
of Minnesota
in that era - or
maybe you gravitated
toward the color purple
color of royalty,
they say -
but whose royalty?
Not here -
it must've been your
friend's influence
it must've been him
swimming round yr
parent's porch on
A St with the
ball under his arm
asking for you.
ESOL is stealing a
particularly brilliant
marble, only to
stand up and hear
the click on concrete
from where you clumsily
stashed it in yr shorts
grandfather saw

red see

If you're horrified by

Aleppo, give a gift to inspire

Unwrap Speed

Quyen Nghiem, not I,

replied to a comment on this

bring Russian style

kleptocracy to the US,

add salted egg yolk

and you'll get the Big
Mac secret sauce

sauce pls I'm a

little vulnerable now,

why haven't you yet

tumblrized yr sexuality?

Would you like another

martini and talk

about martinis

or wheeling you around

the dance floor

I'll make you two promises,

a very good steak that's

medium rare and the

truth which is very rare

I am not a sore loser,

we are not sore losers,

but I know what can

be gained by losing,

and I'm damn sure

using this 76% off

comprehensive online course

eat com suon out of

newspaper

squatting pot of

mama ramen

look to the east

after Doanh

and close my eyes

fs

at night i sit alone

i think about my team

i share their joys and sorrows

iron bar shortcut

     there's one way to become a comedian - it's thru this poem
come         through Feltonville they'll say we didn't know him
By stood       on my porch offering touch football
half in the            shade that concrete space a place to feel tall
white sun glazed                faded Korean store Hershey's sign
on the corner with some            quarters Pepsi-Kona TV time
cola-coffee sweet like Toffey             buy a composition book
a helping hand from the owner's kid     just like me he looked
Kev in the clouds after public pool ramen        in metal bowls
lotta pepper on that oyeh two bags from the         corner store
can't swim cuz girl took a shit and didn't clean her           butt
weekdays was good morning weekends was what's up
stay together young lovers that was mom and dad
her crying on a blue stoop never saw anyone that sad
and when I go back I get the feeling that I've never left
realize worse things in this life and the next to accept

e. loudon (for mei)

        Mei

beautiful    as this country
that bears yr name

took a ride with me on the blvd
from C st to Holme Ave
to find three nail guns in my father's garage

when the old neighbors died
eldest aunt bought the place
rife with americana

 in the basement Smith-Coronas
multiple plaques from Adams Lanes
two Super 8's in their case, a juke

I was there to help my father
stucco Mary's second story
then got her life story

she was from Yugoslavia
stuffed a grocery bag of peppers
                                from her garden

into my arms
and kissed me
rapidly

zato-itchy

my god am i itchy
an itchy boy
can't itch it
beb sez cuz
that's how she sez it
i say it's scratch not itch
you don't itch an itch
you scratch it
though i can't scratch it
just gotta write it

aspects of the pulse

The pulse should be taken
at the calm dawn
when the yin energy
has yet to stir
and the yang energy
has yet to disperse
food and drink have
yet to be taken
and the vessel channels are
not yet overly active
whether the five depots
are in surplus or deficient
whether the six palaces
are strong or weak
outside hammer on wood
man murmurs to man
dog yelps to dog
bird chirps to bird
the gray sky is blinding
observing silently
the essence-brilliance
I am overflowing
with the urge to leave
a little legacy


                              (huangdi neijing / yellow emperor's inner canon)

ah!

" you women --
who loved me for that small, hesitating
love for you I always veered from,
because I felt the realm in your faces "

ah! you wrote to me at such a time,

it finally became October, the month

which marks all the important birthdays to come

thank you for this gift

the changing of the season opportune

to ponder what could be, to reminisce 

a time to reflect

on my own thirst for being desired

and that knowledge of being desired is enough

end of summer

if you cast that lure, what'll you get?
i was on the line, of course, a hound
the crushed lime in yr drink
but you'll fail, they always fail, she said

when i stopped at the recently trimmed hedge
i threw myself in it, caressing it all over
having a sudden bad idea, i was so caught
up in all senses, its rough pliability,

yr fragrance, and that of the foliage
seeing a man out of the corner of my eye
where no one should be, and turning
that eye onto ourselves

i realized i had no belonging here
and so having left myself bare
in the cool dark morning that ended summer
i allowed others to find my way home

his story of the blues (L.H.)

O the sun is so hot
and the day is so doggone long
Yes the sun is so hot
and the day is so doggone long
and that's the reason
I'm singin' this doggone song

mortally wounded

mom
what does
mortally
wounded
mean?
it means you
have a
wound you
will die
from

separation

separation
is natural
shake well

in henri rousseau's dream

in henri rousseau's dream
the wad of cloth between
your legs become too much
you pull and pull at it
your palms explode into wildflowers
your hair is still your hair
and all the world is
         is

bronze

bronze body

among black bodies

i'm older now 

so put a lot of ice in it

mediation water 

can talk to ya

the big bearded duh

talks to ya

this final fantasy

talks to ya

i get in a car 

and already it's too far

get the fuck out quick 

at least wear the seatbelt
while texting

i saw roger rabbit 

twice on WB17

i'm glad i came 

despite the rain

in a dream that night 

i blessed a man

he smiled at me

now imbued

with the courage to do 

what he needs to do

fyl

a philosophical zombie
what's so heavy about it
i have no answer
let alone an approach

monkey

real dim mak
the five ways of attack
this is how you don't play
one piece pirate warriors
how to survive in strange ways
and the old days
how to overcome
your own fear in fighting
this is something
called a soulsong
this is shinichi atobe's
butterfly effect in motion
or how to defend
against a dog attack
there are wild dogs
in the vietnamese countryside
my sister was bitten
by a monkey in the city
i will come when i wake
this is eight traits
of successful people
or why should you
trust unanimous decisions
i read that i'm not using
the internet on the internet
but that the internet is
using me using me
i have the history of tattoos
just below the surface
uncle's five dots in a cross
father's eagle  over his heart
that reminds me
of the philadelphia eagle
same eagle on the sweatshirt
i wore to my first reading
that i got at salvation army
the one that collapsed at 21st & Market
they say that building inspector
committed suicide but
i had doubts

vh

disenfrenchfried people
drape the lamp with my blanket
everybody now wants a banh mi
i still call it a viet hoagie

ai

those older than i say

an active imagination

wrapped in fleece,

 trying to discover unconscious roots

anxiety away

i want just the image of a tree, not the real

slapping the keyboard, i throw my head back

just a sixteen year old

and a christian eon

toward future fatty opposite

steep my body in the yellow of yr room   

knowing love,  lasting heat,
illuminates

body

You are invited to sit and
talk with an acquaintance.
She's also an Asian poet
and of some renown. You
both decide on a shady
bench in a most public
area. Midway she asserts
that she isn't interested in
any sexual relationship.
You give face and accept
her rejection of your body.
Not knowing what it was
you said or indicated with
your body. Walking Walnut,
you want to laugh but you don't.

within a word

'Responsibilities' was the new word
I put my hand out for her
she held a baby carrot
I thought of her young
black childhood. I squeaked
onto the wall, 'Sensibilities'.
She told me that was the kind
of snack she got as a kid, no sweets
we finally got to shake
hands at the end of the day
I said my goodbyes, descend
twenty-seven floors in the time
it takes to adjust my pant cuffs
walk out onto Market St
with brisk spring energy

ping

 ask yrself

why you're here
in someone else's

promised land
wrinkled brown eyes dip

to the flourescence
  my thigh

touching yours
on the bus

42 minutes stood up
gym bag and all

no matter how
much money

this man is screaming
 for 20 cents

all he wants
is 20 cents

and nobody'll give
 it to him, not like that

not that sound
 of sarcastic desperation

red wool skirt

frantic arrows to my head
hard worrisome dick

i'm not in search of anything
something to practice

humble kid in 04 infiniti g35
(not his) just here for the reading

in calcium he purchases
the morning fraught with incense

tea by plant most'll think dead
it just needs some sun again

taking simple pleasure in wind, light,
and body that feed us

exclusive

watch dark souls 3 early footage
smoke from hello kitty bowl
tip well on house red who wouldn't
beautiful people beautiful bartender
bartender who works on poetry nights
listeners who work on their posture
poets who sweep back their hair
lovers who look past themselves
i look past the streetlamp to the moon
what does it mean to be unkindled
tomorrow i will return to work

in prog

i came back into the world like

latino chokes out white beard hero

siciliane beside bed remind me: pakistani hash

by way of fresh slices each night

which is nothing like what we got back home

back home my pronouns are wrong

lill is 65 and works 40 hour weeks 

at the church of scientology for $3.50 an hour

jill is 63 and works in a law office

she defaulted on her student loans

i read her letters from the collections agency

skipped lunch to spend 30 minutes in the bathroom stall

trifold

after dinner
monkeyed with her puzzle
going through some length

after several minutes
edges curled into petals
overshot the moon

in military sun time
dad said don't
join the army so i didn't

ril-key

I palmed my
  red fleece dress
  the speck of
  an island

some Evening played
enjoying a higher standard
of living that I stopped
pondering

a heavy idea
she left me
a book of elegies
before bed

dilly dally

January is nearly over and I'm dilly dallyin'
This is no year to dilly dally, I've seen the dying
electronic blue eyes scoff at diamonds
get a day's work done

slept in the shade of ignorance
I first learned of angels on Wyoming
got my mum's sig to see Olivia Hussey
in Zefirelli's Romeo & Juliet

drew on my skin, drew off yours
popped yolks, spun tops,
the yard in flip flops
demanding labor

thankfulness

can't put all that on the past
push it, step off
                            ( softly,
                               like in wuxia )

I'm heart heavy right now
actually feel it with my hand

in a mind of mine again
where I can!

knowing whom
thankfulness goes to

mum's stew
mum's beef stew

lemme lone

these last years come in a hunt
in smaller increments of thought
put down as some fall short
 of impressed i've been behind
the yellow line the whole time
with my right foot swinging
and my left foot rooted
ah i don't give a shit really
y'know you wake up and you're
slipping into snug fabrics to warm
yr genitals and wonder what the temp
is gonna be and the device says 20
but the real feel is negative 3?
i hush my voice and tilt my eyeballs
upwards in that jack nicholson fashion
to say i want that real feel outta you
now get me the hell outta this maze!

stones

So the unamerican
unbuttons his cuffs like he's going to live, breathing
with one lung    one lung with  amazing timing
everyone envied this little clementine wedge

so juicy

such is life in the gum mountain
spreading him open like a sansui
she once made him a suiseki
so loved her little scholar

ma
 put 'em
in the garden

junk

clean master downloaded

every day cleaning junk files

scanning cpu temperature

eating soup, half the time homemade

half the time au bon pain, for here

take a self portrait w/ a new device

mingle it with the older portraits from old device

transfer everything from old device to new device

using mobile transfer app

half the time high

spray the spray between thighs

sometimes my balls burn from the cold

most of the time i'm plain dry

some fragrant post-shave balm to soothe

moisturizing words with breath

in a batman robe writing prolifically

in front of a space heater sagacious

in stance and in streaming decades old tv

i need a scapegoat so i play scapegoat face down

and end my turn

hit words

miss the mark
a whole two
two three generations

i don't see
but i think
on the word massacre

septa yellow

is that snake alive or is
that muddle one the most terrifying
noise of my childhood
and i grew up on e. louden
oh dear fantasy low self
started with tits
the same family runs
violent string making
what would be the shape
of the female
i can appreciate
drink them quite rudely
more experiments by chinese
in a mess of antidotes
the space we do to ourselves
a woven blanket of pills
represents (an average human lifetime)
something i forget
so i pinch monday cannabis
because it makes white light
of poet laureateship
i see the color of the chord
and it pulls me

hell no shut up

they're tired and they want
 a piece of this earth
some want the whole thing

i don't laugh i get on the bus

we heard some vehicle that was loud
there was no west coast presence
nor big market     old man screams
    but it's wasted

mu

shit only happens
when you take away
their football

detrás

no gawking
at the gawkers
while you walk
down a narrow alley
with safe graffiti
turned to shit
by michael shulson
tastes great chef
the older of the two
men slapping that wok
for the happy hour crowd
dog-beating sautéing
i thought to myself
tongue out nearly
glazing the girl with fire
there's no room here
for all this dead weight
that's filling up
on Asian puns
with rinds
this woman
is staring at me
like i've just landed

paper man

hope ya make a donation
or buy a paper

hope ya make a donation
or buy a paper
hope ya make a donation
or buy a paper
hey miss hey miss

can i get one of those cigarettes

miss hey miss

can i get one of your cigarettes
hope ya make a donation

or buy a paper
hope ya make a donation
or buy a paper
walks toward me while pointing

needing indication
that i speak english

what i say
i've been watching him

in front of the wine and spirit

for five minutes now

what i ask
knowing what

'canigetta cigarette?
i won't smoke it now 

because i just had one

i just want one for later

at least i'm being honest'

we as a family

crib baby

curb baby

baby baby

baby baby

house to home

we moved west

then north

then northeast

now south

drove to eastwick

by mistake twice

baby baby

i don't care

if ya hate it

teapot

to make leg and hip one
to exert
   to then muscle
  that         that is one
is beautiful is also common

some people say it depends on talent,
i'm also telling you it depends on talent

to fast, not just willingly,
not conscious     in close file    in morning

call her madam
i read in France, Paris
at least, women are rejecting
that form altogether

to merge, to become insubstantial
like water he said and you know who
you cannot hurt it

even as a child thinks of Venice sinking
i came back from 20th to S 20th spelunking
w/ Bryant! Back again to
Atlanta.

snake

all except for dad

uncle bo and his brothers

vowed to kill this man

on sight

my grandmother

pulls strings! as thin as
bird spit

no, nothing killed this blog O

now hunting park
it's the bottom of summer

where red mold gro

i fill a hole in the wall

tied to her, I jumped

feel my waves in   bath

with a bucket   we were

a poor family

i fill a hole in the wall w

candy

tkin

Too subtle the high cheek
  wish clouds
   would rain

Keep thinking into a corner
 yellow eaves
  emperor desk

I want to see and touch
 the Great Pyramids
  hot hot rocks

New spring'll save me
  hear the hunger
   of the sun

baoyu

no shark's fins

when the mother came

to clear the dishes

she saw a single abalone

to be discarded

tilted the plate

and slid it back to the diner

"this tastes very good!"

she said to the diner

non-Chinese

fearing    waste

bit

migrant woman with strong scent

massages circles into my third eye

brother duck cheery as ever though

he's losing track of where i live

and what routes i take to get here

walk past afwm first date

his hair immaculate but out of place

her clothes tight fitting but body loose

lay off meat for the rest of the day

i bit my tongue which killed the conversation

a few taste buds and the freshness of drawn noodles

i run cross 11th to catch the 17

see the same bus driver

who doesn't say anything when i thank her

but i don't let it stop me

my bloody tongue thanks her

at the thing all early havin doubles

equal
  young man
equal

all week cause her
  madly now in love to
home city roads briefly

having one outside
  as she approached w/ gold brows
though people are too cowardly

all i wanted
  having figured
out need

wall

the wall was hamburger

now all over white

downstairs fish mint

mum's muong

purple perilla

then back to it

pushing

i

remember

the painter Cesar

played so-so ping pong

he painted

houses

noticing

 take a
rainy ass

I tossed too early,
 and this is awhile
   somewhere

and he takes that image
 we would project
      something onto

what a vile image
   plus I look like
                 shit

hey modern art
   you might
            say

I can't lose this,
      it's on my
         computer

think about the
        question,
           you die

   when will
  someone
search thru yr shit

       send it to me
I just imagine him
        working on it

      as pure as it can
   I don't know

know where he was
  coming from.

Them getting a head start
    on midnight
-- write that down

I have no stone
        to move

Books up on end
                  feet

underground feet
  observes some
   maligned forces

  Last night I
made notice a small red
cut on the back of my right
  thumb near its base

I put Neosporin on it

para

                                        "Go          
                                             by Robert Creeley

                                           Push that little
                                           thing up and the
                                           other right down
                                           it'll work."

very
specific
things that
are happening
so far

                                         "edge is
                                           closer,
                                           nearer than then."

my toes
wrinkling in the
softness of her pooch
warm swims


               "Red
             
                 when it goes
                 that fast
                 you don't see anything
                 but speed, you see
                 red."


that
nothing                           formulating
will                                  the essence
                                        of who you
                                        are                              up



this point when
she bumped my
hand with Robert
Creeley's book
JUST IN TIME

I tell her I'm
making a living                                              "Vision
poem                    
                                                                       Think of the size of it,
                                                                       so big, if you could remember
no longer                                                        what it was or where. "
having use for  [this]                                              
 [this]  [this]                                                                            

  how
sexually charged
a shape
         or
shapes, ambiguous enough,
                     si it?

xl

i work and work all day
there's a guy that life
worked, like his bronze key
thrashing teeth in the slit,

six xl consecutive sneezes
some day be a better way
in the future having a fried turnip
at the Game.

"With caramel, Turnip Man!"
"Hay! Woh! Turnip ova heuh!"
it's always summer now,
     coo wet turnips