...pre-cap...

the party I am missing tonight:

the swoon the swindle the mingle the network

the piece the guitar the axe the lights in the bowl

the wine the witches the hipsters the bitches

the wine the women the men the walls

the taut pants the faux spike the red red souls

the instigators the tail chasers the requisite line

the poet the musician the singer's songwriter

the fire escape smoke room the smoke alarm

the mixing the taping the mix-taping 

the photographer the echoes in the green pale hall 

the clinking of recyclables

the hello the goodbye the hellos and goodbyes

the curator the cure the curious 

the end the ending the closure the closing

...pool hall rule...

the way word bird game

up up the upper fame of the deed

done dirt street cheap 

schlepped up up hills

and tossed down down 

societ-ill

sloped and slants

renovation and prospect

who will willingly fill the pool

so that I may swim 

swimmingly in the error

of my repetition ?

...loft...

even the greatest intention

is defeated by the longing

and despair of  being

the only one in the room

even when you are near

...forget the power...

the word I saw today too many times

power on and off on the tv   on the green

board we discussed it in class and I had

not seen the word on the tv

til afterward when I got home

the word followed me

then went into the tv before

I started to dream of the power

being yanked off by the electrician

in my nightmare   he tells me not

to go forward and not to pass the power

onto the next fortune teller

or gas god of the sulphur springs 

that re-emerge in the power sweat

dreams of mountains and hot hot

waters the way              the muscle releases

safety in that power 

we return to the core of the lecture

then the tv turns it off for all of them 

like the power cord being tripped over

and ripped out of the socket

...a loved letter...

dear valentine

______________

______________

______________

dear dearly deserted

______________

______________

______________

dear lost value

______________

______________

______________

dear dear you

______________

______________

______________

Love, as/is Always,

______________

...medium matter...

how to:

frame the words:

in the body:

of your image:

is it:

glass on mating:

on turned phrase:

on photograph:

these laws:

needn't be set:

just suggested:

black and white:

my letters:

in black:

...the height of the ceiling...

the height of the ceiling

matches the height

of the sensation 

that we are both

winding toward 

that we are both

afraid of achieving

hands in the air

the height of the ceiling

...about facing...

another intriguing reconnection

in harmony with this idea

of reconciliation and proclamation

of singleness and multi-syllabic 

conversations with the self

(remember her? remember

the library window? remember

that awful, mean town?)

In all occurrences there exists

a definitive truth of that experience

and that time does take its

toll but no more so than

the words we used to use

before we knew how to use

words properly and not

as the weapons of inarticulate

youth, swords of misuse