LIGHT MAGNET

you ambled over

and turned off

my light.

through a crowd,

through a dark empty room,

jagged flight of a moth

towards the light –

you came towards me.

hat and hairslick,

invisible sweater

like relics of a cocoon.

you arrived,

nocturnal creature,

with soft silent wings

and the light went off.

I thought I saw you

smiling through the dark.

I thought I wanted to see

you bathed in light.

BHL

Embarrassed ghosts of the night -
back home, they are losers,
so I have lost.

Here even, I am at home.
Off-key, slipping on the rocks,
I am lost.

The lives of girls and women

the girls spreading their blankets
again and again
homemakers already
tucking themselves in
and taking care to make it straight
then later tending to the careful
balance
of playing
which we have long since lost
the muscle for
only in fits and spurts of courage
do we say
may I join?

friday night

date night

I'VE TASTED COLORS THOUGH

I'm telling you, those sun stripes are called the glories,
that small car is painted perfect mint,
and all these doors are playing off the hues
of others that come before.

Radical hedges,
ornamental screen doors,
you know, some driveways
could be swimming pools.

Who knew about this place:
petroleum pipeline that mirrors
the exit course of airplanes as they ascend,
blanketed in green, a place for us to walk.

Sometimes patterns exist
to cushion conversation,
others are so poignant
that they bite.

Then we come to a house
that turns out to be a temple,
bright orange and violet
rising from the woods.

And on our 50th date we will go to Coney Island
and buy fake ray bans