No Vision

Two teenagers set my state on fire
with a bottle rocket. We flee
between coasts like politics.
I work three jobs so I can buy
new brakes & a tattoo of a heart
shooting lightning. I fall asleep
on your knee while watching TV.
These days, some groups of people
flinch at the sound of cars
approaching. After pouring sugar
into her coffee, a woman steps
into the thunderstorm & says
Hurricanes are everywhere lately!
She drives somewhere safe
& feels good about her life.
Everyone wants to be in the eye
of the storm, where it’s calm,
where the walls shimmer like
prom dresses. Even I want that.

Broccoli Despair Fortress

In this bright house it could be any hour,
but technically it’s 3 in the morning
& I’m heating up a little stir-fry,
something warm to keep me company.
I’ve turned every light on—kitchen,
living room, desk, bedside table,
two laptops giving me entertainment
& recipes, the blinding white rays
on my soul from whichever gods
are trying to tell me I’m wasting
my life. But with all these spotlights
it could be six on a summer evening,
I could have friends coming over
to feed & laugh with, I could be
cooking piles of fluffy rice, I could
be spooning mountains of miraculous
broccoli & tofu onto their plates,
we could be wasting our lives together.

Swallow

People eat birds
People eat horses
& cats & dogs
& each other

late in the city
getting drinks
with someone
personally famous

who enters my
vague consciousness
suddenly like
a tree dropping

little bodies in
the throat of
the valley where
I dream of money

The waiter serves us
12 baby swallows
with green sauce
Sorry I eat them all