beyond yeast and butter

when did older cease to feel greater than
toddle to tween to teen to twenty
steps forward, upward, rising

am i now the loaf past completion
the risen grown stale
bread baked, bread sliced, bread eaten

is it time to look forward to filling bellies
hope that someone remembers the taste
as they sweep up the crumbs



wb

me and bones

chicken meat
on chicken bones
on paper plate
at lunch break
of temporary work
i didn't forget
a handful of napkins
or the plastic
but the fork
and her serrated cousin
brainwash my hand to mouth

this mind
of manners
is less than before
i knew the names and faces
and their proper places
on either side

will clean hands save the napkins soul?!

to hell with that
let those absorbent bodies burn
with the rest of us



wb

for all of you

imaginary eulogies
delivered at dark wooden lecterns
for black dresses clutching mascara tissues
and drab suits framing muted ties

everyone is told about the water
you flooded down my dry river bed
when no one was looking

there are echoes
of children fidgeting
over the pauses of my voice
over the pin-drop church

and only the newborns know
where you are
and why you're gone
and how to let out the appropriate screams

why
do these words breed
like mice in the walls
waiting for lights to go out




wb

combustibles

there is no fire in this house.
electric stove.
no candles.
no cigarettes.

though i often inhale
the wafts of secondhand clouds.
the neighbors,
post coital
or stress relieving.

our shared breath
weighs heavy on my chest.
my runner's lungs cringing
at the rusting
of their well oiled pedigree.

and every time i am a boy again.
with a father trying
to keep his dark clouds on the porch
but the front door
was never as strong as he had hoped.



wb