the sense
of urgency
is lost
when these
same words
are used
four days
in a row
every other
month
you lying
anxious
emails
Monthly Archives: October 2013
changed
sometimes it is
the people who
have known you
the longest and
think they know
you the best
that cause you
to doubt yourself
but no one
can ever
know you
longer or better
than yourself
never could drink it black
you’re the touch of cream
and half packet of sugar
tempering the bitterness
of my current cup of life
sprouts
it wasn’t long ago
i was picking him up
to hug him hello
and only yesterday
i was leaning in
to kiss him goodbye
now he is the one
bending at the waist
to greet me
but no matter
how tall he gets
he better not
try to lift me
i miss them too
the weekend is over
and the boys have gone
returned to their home
we see them often
but it doesn’t change
the emptiness they
leave behind each time
a stack of clean towels
glasses in the cupboard
the bucket full of ice and
half a gallon of rocky road
all vanished with them
reunion
windows are wide open
and i can hear
the dull roar of the ocean
falling from the sky
-illions of separated drops
scrambling to reunite
in the innumerable dips
and valleys and potholes
of my inner-city neighborhood
all the time
she hates it when i say
“we could make that at home”
she hates it even more
when she knows that it’s true
dishes
for someone who usually likes
doing things according to the book
i don’t think i’ve once followed
a recipe exactly as it’s written
always an ingredient removed
or replaced or ofttimes added
and everything eyeballed or
measured in the palm of my hand
i could say it’s because i’m trying
to make the dishes my own
but really, i just get a little
tired of all the washing up
her and the music
mom hates it
when i whistle
says it’s unladylike
been saying that
long as i
can remember
so long that
i’m sure she
was the reason
i wanted to
learn in the
first place
unseasoned
even khmer words have silent letters
indicated by a squiggly symbol above
characters that have been “assassinated”
as with any rules there are exceptions
and some stubborn letters marked for death
rally to make one final dying sound
but sometimes it’s a massacre and
four or five letters are silenced by a
single heavy-handed stroke of the pen
i don’t know when to kill what yet
so i follow my instincts for now and
let everything live on just a little longer
loosing the binds 