Poems for Elise


you lent me a bit of your bluegrass
now i am scrounging for
atmospheric intimacy
banana peels
some quaint something
to hold
to suckle
to become infinitesimally
attached to
like a tit
to lips

when you're 2 months old
and craving.

*

my nosebleeds
your paxil

you've been thinking about replacing
the morning dosage with
a swig of whiskey
two swigs for mornings when
your hands can't won't stop
trembling & the female suicide cluster
inside your head says

'more eyeliner. rim those
kamikaze tendencies in black war
paint. dress them up. take them dancing.
more hip.  less thigh.  you are exotic
river gypsy goddess with
heartburn pinned inside your
sleeve.'

my delicacy
your bounce.

*

we are two reflections of bitterness
making out in bars
like such lost little girls

hatching in september
before leaves fall
and snow comes

before they take
our wounds to church with them
press olive oil into sticky sweet temples

forget to take no for an answer

induce silence & prescribe
sleeping pills for the dreaming
who forget to register
by country
&
date of birth.