NATURAL DISASTERS DON’T BRING US TOGETHER ANYMORE

It is hard to say
was it due in part
to something you had heard 
or was it simply that we had moved
& grown into our distances, adorning change?

The world is a wedge 
when we are not excited poets
conspiring & commiserating like quick
scatting strays spilling the drink of tea.

I’m aware my engagement has gone way down
both online & in person—
not the most enticing company, I assume;
a mute & observant fallen angel
licking its wounded wings, covered in the dry rub
of Armageddon.

Though, I would take you as you are and were
over all this dead air.

What’s the fun in getting married if you are not there?

You must meet him!
The miracle that chose me
despite the divorces (you missed)
despite my confusing history (you could help enlighten.)

While I know now disasters don’t bring us together anymore—
you, leaving me on read during the height of the plague—
I muse on the prospect of how charmed you could be,
even if it’s not by me. 
 

THE OFFICE GHOST

since no one seems to see it,
clocks in late and clocks out early—
it does not appear 
to have a set schedule 

the sound of clacking keys 
is lost amidst the typing of the living
too preoccupied with the relationships they have 
with their coworkers,
partial to their own senses of humor,
remaining unphased by the swiveling 
of an empty chair,
the printing of asemic documents
with symbols that contain mysterious lore

at least three times a day,
the coffee machine makes noises
as the beans grind 
& the brew pours into a paper cup
which is then whisked away by 
a gaseous force,
down the hall,
down the elevator,
to the parking lot,
where a mentholated cigarette unhouses itself
from its box
& a lighter unsheathing a cloak of invisibility 
kisses its tip

smoke forms a pair of lungs, a circulatory system;
outlines the physiognomy of a presence 
knowing that no one cares it’s taking 
an extra break,
that they’re all completely indifferent
to the phenomenon it is even there

vanishing like time and money 
at the end of the day 
appearing only with a long drawn sigh
at the approach of the next