poems

when i was twenty nine
i learned i could go out at night
and bring home poems
instead of women:
at the street corner
where giggling groups pass,
in the residue between
the bricks,
taxi wheels as
grind to a halt,
weird fizz you can't get 
bottom of a strong porter
glass
stuck to the side,
slouched over a bar
head thump
bench seat
feet hang off the curb
strong porter
when i was twenty nine

and bring home poems

El Cortez

walking around this weird neighborhood
is it dawn or twilight
the hours don’t match up
an orb in the sky could be
a pin prick sun
or just a globe streetlamp
all blueish black above 
a crackle of orange through
the mist on the horizon.

the bulwark of your mechanics 
hedge-pledge comes 
tumbling out of your uber driver's knife carrot harem pocket, 
the old fancy way. 

5/6/19

across the thames

“You want to eat you go to Chicken Cottage”

The man outside barks. It’s cash only, and an attempt is made to beg Brits for a couple pounds.

Luckily there's another, quieter Chicken Cottage, with nobody in it, and this one accepts cards. The fries taste like old grease. The nuggets are the nuggest - held delicately between thumb and fore. 

“Let’s find somewhere we can sit outside and eat this.”

The park entrance is at the dead end of a lane in South London. 

Tip the water bottle for a swig, pinky stuck in the air.

“We’re in London.”

A smile.

“Can I put my arm around you?”

The flat smells like moth balls. The second thing is the furniture - tasteful and warm. A large window covered by thick venetian slats. Beside it, the olive green chair: a curved danish number, elegant in its size, and with four polished wooden legs in a splay. It is overhung by a two-orb cantilever lamp in rosy metallic.

The ceiling fixture is an open ended cylinder: aurburn in extérieur, reflective copper within. A single Edison bulb within emits a scientific orange glow.

Four eyes examine the dresser - rich wood bisected artistically by veins of inlayed brass, whose thoughtful arrangement is uninterrupted by the breaks between drawers. 

The bedspread is a warm white decorated lightly by black embroidery - a band of lace forming a square that speaks of nuzzley sweet interiority. 

Two cross-legged people face one another. 

“What would that look like?”

A smile.

“That would be nice.”


…


A morning glance between the venetians affords vistas of lush spring foliage and a futuristic peek of London’s iconic “Shard” as cobalt surrenders to dayblue.

I Love Mi

Mi is a woman in my dream.
she has a rainbow
face
a small nose
and an electric smile.

I meet Mi
through a mutual friend
    who is also cute
but Mi glows
uncontainable.

she’s talking to a woman
with green eyes
behind the bar.

this café is so
typewriter: 
young.

the green eyed woman,
olive skinned,
dark gold curls
pulled back,
looks at me.

she tells Mi
“he is cute.”
and they giggle.

when Mi comes back
to my side of the bar
it is to speak to
another guy
who also likes Mi:
everyone likes Mi.

Mi has a rainbow face
a small nose
and an electric smile.

the other guy
starts to ask Mi
“do you want to leave together?”
I catch her eyes
as he asks
and interject.

“Mi, how about, if
instead of that,
we go hang out.”

she says ok,
meet at her place.

the other guy is mad
in fact he curses Mi
he calls her
“a woman who
meets men at bars.”

I tell him not to talk
that way about Mi
and show
him my sword:
long and sharp,
it remains in its black sheath.

he quickly draws his
serrated blade
pressing it
into my flesh.

I will not do battle.
I take the pain,
blood dripping
down.

I set out to find Mi.

on the muddy path
to her house
there is a pyramid.
I stop
suddenly
realizing what great
works I must build.

when I finally arrive
it is on horseback
and
Mi is behind
the desk in my
grandfather’s study.

I open my shirt to 
show her
the wound.

Mi stands.
she is bouyant
she greets me 
with kaleidoscope sweetness,
a megawatt grin.
exactly the way
I want her.

a friend says
“you need to
find someone who
    is a nurse
someone who will 
    say 
‘oh my god, what
    happened.’
when they see the blood.”

that was
the last time I saw Mi:
standing behind 
the desk
rainbow faced,
small nosed,
electric.

Ausphur

under
shaded sunny dapple
outskirt eco-home
wife is accomplished
clever
magical
brown locks
she stands magnificent
next to the blood orange tree
we planted
a baby
and named him Ausphur
after his father’s mad
poeticism 
and momma’s 
good luck.

when Fiona’s
big twinkle meets my ogle 
it is to ask
“do you think this is bad?”
gesturing to a
patch of discoloration
on the shrubby 
citrus trunk.

kitchen fixtures 
achieve an earthy stainless appeal
interior featured in “Home”
published in house
on our
maxMac 2i
ethnic decor
punctuating rich hardwood walls:
masks and fabrics are portals
to times we roamed
ourselves weary
now
finally we can
recline 
into the danish
needle on a vinyl electro-chill
ripe avocado
heirloom tomatoes
a piece of sustainable trout
home filling with
warm light + auto-chef aroma
as
our purple sky front vista
navies down to night.

Ausphur is building
unbuilding and
rebuilding his legos in the guest yurt
saving his screen time
for 8pm
his friends will log on
and Fiona and I will
hold hands
lock eyes
across the
reclaim cherry

and

Fiona fills her diaphragm,
corner smiling at
my helpless love-look
“so..” 
she tries to start
desperate eyes
and
that half smile,
my pause palm
moves to her clavicle
“It’s ok Fiona, I know.”

i long for america

for strange bi-ways
birds nesting in an old cracked
flourescent sign
diners open late
diners open early
career ending portions
gravy flooded eggy biscuits

i long for
hours to our one downloaded playlist
german shepherd hanging out the window
of a passing truck
must be going one hundred

motels we almost don’t want to sleep in
the best sleep as morning splits the venetians 
tents on a desert campsite

magenta flame lit dusky mountain
rancid odors in an odd alley

turning the corner to glimmrin’ metropolis
turning the corner
seeing endless blue shimmer
endless grey rumble

a cigarette by the wind whipped corn tops
hot muggy take your shirt off
buggy skeeters 
and 

snow blown cottages 
from a long time ago
candle in every window

your creaky dawn-voice
“can we sleep for another hour?”

dew on the car outside.

Down the Middle - YC W19 Demo Day Poem

a.k.a "it's the juggernaut batch"
03.17.19 - pier 48 loading dock
San Francisco, CA

dreamers
		and shmoozers
	throw hopes
				in the din
					
	murmurs bounce off
				warehouse walls

long 		gone	are
	the comforts of mountainview
		the carpeted floors of
the computer history museum
			
		here the ground is parking lot
			yellow badge founders swimming like
	sharks ready to bite any 
			dazed distance-staring alum
			
			thick black curtains stretch to the roof pick a side
		two hundred is too many companies to not divide
	what once was YCombined now is YSplit
and that’s also a new card type: virtual debit.
it’s the juggernaut [redacted] like Freddie Merc’s Indian roots
life’s worse when you can’t get crazy rich south asian news.
ice rain from the heavens - not Kevin, this hail
weather check insures sleet wrecks should your coverage fail.
but there’s no insurance when a hire is a blight
burn the bull off resumes with a white hot searchlight.
a generous lover, I don’t quite go greek -
a cutie in thick rims, though? yes, I’ll eatgeek.
pronto is LATAM’s firey Uber with half-a-million rides;
investors - ¡ven rapidamente! make strides!
allure puts garment mocks on models of each size and type
I know from Teespring that’s a cash cow: right swipe.
Vivian of friendshop’s pink coralogo tee pops
to get better deals and go viral bring crew when you cop.
keep your error prone analytics code deploys on lock
they call themselves avo but will they make guac?
small business purchase is great but if that’s where it ends
wonder could we have shared more words… with friends?
union apartment making $300k MRR rentals look easy
with swag on the stage in printed black sweat suits and Yeezy’s.
alpaca is API Robinhood - darning their stocks in the night
when there’s nobody there… 
cute birdy mascot makes me wanna nuzzle and nestle
that’s as close to the truth as I can get with trestle.
a founder forgets his lines but it cause of a chronic habit?
every month shipping $2MM in dank green is nabis.
‘fraud is a way of life’ it’s both true and sad
truora works to make the outcomes a little less bad.
egg
			egg
	egg    hatch				egg
					egg			egg
	egg

egg
come on poet. Focus! like Lincoln reading by candle
you’ll never find love if you keep losing your handle.
so here’s co-founder Joe out of Gordian - for any of you in denial,
their booking-soft underlies travel sites. I’ll take the aisle.
tuck-shirt young-dicaprio brooklyn-swag-walk
promises board are ‘biggest baddest cash buyers on the block.’ !
and finally tech to bring grub straight to your habitat
got spice like Kim Chi B, where’s my cabbage at?

in the break-space a couple burritos go down
thank you
 thank you for the food
	let it not put me to sleep
		keep

keep your baby safe
keey pour baby 
        baby safe
keep you or baby	
	 your baby 
			  safe

shiok meats will shock with lab grown cell based shrimps
in a $25 Billion prawn market this game ain’t for wimps.
a friend from my Robotics class at Brown - Francois
memfault just seems like a thing that’s a thing, firmware flaws.
the German’s are coming! let’s head for the hill
but no concrete can protect us like bunkerBox will
poppy corn 2.0 is the new snack from Taali
my mom likes the texture but says after taste is the folly
did you know of a rare Kid’s Alzheimers called “Batten”?
if we can circumvent that then we should make it happen.
Xgenomes come up in green sequencing genes
the cof beams - most confident sidekick I’ve seen.
quantum computing may boggle you
not if you are the people who started AuroraQ.
portal entryways for those who need help, opens doors
with an app, with a tap, on a condo, or store.
the amount we know about our own DNA is pathetic
but why can’t we just be smarter? it’s probably genetic.
exhuming another industry from paleolithic tar pits
ai insurance machines learn on average how dinged your car gets.

and… a measly alarm sounds above
half hearted voice meeting side to side glances:
“everyone exit in an orderly fashion”

back for geopredict in some nerdy looking high-waist pants
but bold with open door for oil and gas.
brainkey for automated 3D brain diagnostics
but where’s heartkey to unlock and pop faces in lockets?
I need help. Empirically, what is true love made of?
from Loveless in Oakland, addressed to askdata.
inito goes where no man’s not hesitant
the only app in the app store that gets your pregnant.
		fading fast	droopy eyes
	six thousand dollar darth vader machine
			we 	try to ignore that p’s are q’s backwards
pocket buzz (someone wants to message me)	we can’t ignore
		that Stanford Graduate
			   	that slight bulge in the
we can’t ignore
			we the people	RAISE JAZZ HANDS
	in support of
			our steam-faced TECH BRETHREN
	 a white tech borther on a mission
on mission
		on a
					GEROSTATE ALPHA 	sleepy
	eyes shut eyes open
		my flapping gasp

“frozen at forty” when anti age drugs are
		ten years out
stem cellies
		or Jon deere for indoor farming - we could just
making bootleg nebullam merch now for the country demo
	and be
		weird plant wall thing
		a robotic “type” system
7 year slog - three year return, bearded founder CLAYTON MOONEY
	of Iowa
		he was forty seven years old

high functioning. fucktioning
			
		little/big chubby baby face pacifier cute
munchkin stubby toe’d munchkin little
	gimp hat - pumpky
nah, that’s cute that’s cute
			that’s cool, we’ll stay

green energy exchange im a fading tree in heavy winter
eyes sag body head keels over thursday
trying to get linked in
im so asleep I might be like: 
		the next generation of
fully licensed paper org with
	fifteen hundred on my waiting list
with bloody feet and mud smeared body
we try to be ravens and angle into water war
		a greener america
how a classroom “should look” according to TailorEd is with

	one kid passed out on their desk

feel I’m a swampy dander gazing stage for the wrong thing
crazy trainwreck brain lines take me back haighschool.
no they are presenting
blueberry medical is presenting.
how asleep am I? very. slipping off. coming away undone
	almost not existing
it’s the burritos, it’s the burritos they all complain in unison
this is the blueberrthing trying to go big
	smash the eBorder
the old square in Scotland
		where I was rug shopping in 2009

back from a break, two cookies and a decaf, switch stages 
		“Pioneer”
I peek backstage two
	founders in “loonify” shirts

the fact that loonify will balloon-launch small satellites
will surely leave flat earth proponents feeling justified.
as I could use a pachama so sleepy, and dream
of a truly effectual carbon offset scheme.
from your union apartment you may get a degree, true
but college doesn’t teach anything useful: you’ll need a careertu.
a ‘we’re the next amazon’ claim comes off cocky
still at scale there’s a market for bottomless coffee.
mythical basilisk, st. peter’s basilica, vatican, rome
leave 99.9% of your NN training data at home.
54gene is a new African gene database
unlike 23andme, it expands across race.
evo bots find the flaws in titles for playstation -
they’ll replace every human game tester with automation.
man’s torso, moreso, horse, though.
techquestrians from centaur labs arrow and bow.
next time the colon doc needs a peep up your soft spot
make sure they don’t miss any polyps - use docbot.
kalshi healthy gambling where the house doesn’t always win
and it’s legal beyond the walls of the city of sin.
don’t be a poor sport - install a new doorport
and next time you’re in Santa Monica play some board sports.
long long ago, in a galaxy Verizon hopes never exists: Volk Fi
a distributed celluar system with no data plan, amazing.
lumos says 5% of all goog searches med-related
so let there be light just for doctors created.
cheaper, better employee benefits - that won’t flop
plus a dash of “god damn” is the cherry on top.
Mei instapath not be confused with the carrot cart
something full automated, up it starts.
brings releaf to inefficient African assembly lines
kind of like how brother Sam U. pumps out the rhymes.
and synova gets two ex the stem cells from FAT.
… … beliiiiieeve that!
atomic alchemy generates nuclear medicines
wondering what sort of mushroom cloud my head is in?
if world leaders had good intel, peace would have a chance
let’s paint our world in data and zip up Trump’s pants.
	for real though, donate now: ourworldindata.org/donate
	
hi		i am Rob
	we remove CO2 from the air and turn it
			into gasoline. 	!

prometheus #nuffsaid

a break later my man Ruben from career karma in dope clothes
tackles job market woes and makes cash as it grows.
on my first time with PG: chat laps around Pioneer
he said “this tiny seed turns to sapling to sequoia giant o’er the years.”
we took a break right at 4:20 but I was too sick to hit Hua’s Reefer
but at least I made it back in time for the pitch from keeper.
cable TV is dying according to closer sports
it may go the way of the cathode ray, but still the logo needs work.

a perpetual taking and reliquishing of stage
a clamor of JAZZ HANDS
a “how loud should we clap for this”
a feeling of “AND NOW, THIS”
unending cycle of 3 minute distillations of 
3 months, the outset of 7 year journeys
and now, this.

trade loans with 100% collateral wouldn’t be wise
now Indian firms have a new option in Seawise. 
JAZZ HANDS
how often we find ourselves, mid-day, middesk
and yet rarely do we carry out biz-background checks.
	the poem.. must. go
			on
in fact. 	I’m switching
		I’m going into: datamode
	beeeeezoop bee bop 	biddle widdle wit
beezoop bee bop 
		bit beeeeooowwwm
			beezoop bee bop beep beep 
	biddle widdle wit
		beezoop bee bop bit beeowowowowowow
now im stegged out HU HUH
	FULL BOAR
steady datamode
		01011001
			stegasaurus REX mother fucker 
FULL DATA MODE
	11011010
JAZZ HANDS

data mode. all facts. never fictional
an improvement on old ass EDI’s like convictional.
I sleep in my mom’s basement - but only tell my closest friends
on a new social media app… we know how this ends.
encarte is a one stop checkout across pages
a passport to 30k smaller ecomm destinations.
it will be a supernova. a brilliant light!
takes design mocks and spins them into code that’s… alright.
	oof… I’m winded. yikes yikes
		a sail torn
					JAZZ HANDS
oh ok shit here I am. 
					here’s.
	it’s um it’s called 	
		edyst
a company that does things
		don’t let students waste money
	this is draining, time remaining?
could someone put a clock up?
		docbot, out your butt
	but then up, becomes dockup
or then there’s pershop it’s the perfect bazaar
that shows just what you like and knows what size you are.
or for gaming enemy on board brings togeth mafia and LOL
so a made to watch MOBA that’s perfect for trolls.
	JAZZ HANDS
taobotics’ bots bring the coke aisle to YOU
an automate selfie opp and sales improved.
what’s next. JAZZ
		this is windsor
			the brain grows thin
how many companies? K-Complexes? Sleep-spindles?
	I’m inside out I’m inside out I’m inside In.
HANDS
cargo crate hovership boundary layer
	hydrofoil fast as the air freight quarter the cost
		JAZZ HANDS
mew mew
		meow
blub blub blub 		and  		WOW
what is this? something for me? as a Lactose intolerant?
eclipse has micelle milk magic - for vegans and asians
MILK MILK MILK 
			JAZZ HANDS MILK MILK

at heart we build it - 19 person electric planes
my water based heart wrestles an electric brain.
don’t forget the underscore when you _rebank
better bank helps companies send money.
	JAZZ HANDS
		 JAZZ HANDS
JAZZ HANDS
	a man with the voice of a podcast producer
explains preflight can help you test code before users	
			J			ZZ
a tooth in the
		HNDZ		JAAAZsZs
	best wind farm in the lands buy and build sell for 4x
trying my best traversing this wild vortex
	JAZZ hands but let’s be honest the problem is jizz
and the solve is uncomfy until your choice gives
	 	a new man-pill an option will can condone
when I rush to go buy them I won’t be alone
	the prospect alone gives old dogs
		 new bones
and lest forget schoolable helping with 
private school access in poorer nations…
JAZZ
						HANDS
	JAZZ HANDS
			JAZZ HANDS
odd reiki 					HANDS
	JAZZ
			JAZZ HANDS
o	ff			record
		JAZZ HANDS		JAZZ
HANDS		
				
				ZZ	
			JA
	Z
					Zzz

“hey um, I think your bathroom needs more toilet paper
	and… more possibilities.”

toodles til
d nxt batch

柳
esc

You!

Do you think you can discourage the hungry mouse from coming down here?
Do you really think you can charm the apples off a tree,
the seeds out of an apple,
the ivory cream out of a glass of milk?

Soy milk is the only guiltless indulgence.
Unlike milk milk it doesn’t come from a bulging utter.
Unlike almond milk it doesn’t enslave bees.
Soy beans are a mainstay of the American Soy/Corn Agricultural Complex.
They even put nitrogen back into the dirt where they grow.
It doesn’t have a lot of protein though.
Some people say it turns you into a girl.

Do you think you can really, really ask out a high school girl to dance?
I mean back in time of course, of course I mean
really, really go to the prom -
not just with some rando.

Here I am, guiltless, post-soy-milk,
but I had an almond croissant actually.
Dante has one circle of hell for
or in the words of Mr. Roboto
“Bezelbub has a devil set aside for me.”
or was it - “どうもありがとう.”

Heaven’s splendor == milk mixed with Splenda.
Chariot swings Sweet-n-low.
I’m not saying that God’s sugar is fake;
I’m saying he needs to use more of it.
Some butter wouldn’t hurt - it’s Ash Wednesday.
A little charred edge is a sign of a good toast.

Was about to drop a crumb for the mouse:
he scampers silently along the wall crease,
disturbing quiet blur,
almost imagined.
What is he rooting around for these
New York Mice,
bigger than a mouse should be.
How big a mouse should be?
No need to crumb encourage him here.

Do you really think?
A mouse gets less hungry by eating?
I have seen a dog scarffle up its own vomit - is this getting dicey?
Oh no! Oh god sorry I 

I wanted to end things off on a good note
but nicey doesn’t play that game
no he

third person positive 
no he.

No he doesn’t does he. No he does, he
or worth anything

mark my words:

“I’ll reassemble your stinking heap of a conglomerate.”
“I'll stow your cabin bag.”
“I’ll fish you.”

mango morning

i was so sleepy
the dreams were good
a little kid
determined friend 
crying next to his scooter

graffiti on brick 
graffiti on brick
last train from Nostrand is an airborn A C
uptown adventure
we landed on pigs
their snouts all tickled me

i was so sleepy
cutting the mango kept thinking:
“heathenism”
eat this mango like a heathen
but floss after

(instead of my morning banana)

I Shadow

	Who learned a lesson called “I love you” as 
a kid?
		Momma did, Momma said she did
			Love me-you I mean.
	Momma loved the American Baby, she gave that little 
squeaking lump its first smear of eye shadow

Baby learned how to say “I love you”
	Baby learned how to look in the mirror
		Baby learned how to say “I love you” to the mirror
apply eye shadow and now say back - “I love you more.” 

Baby grew up. strut down beauty boulevard in gleamy plats
		glanced in mirror store window - “Baby, I love you.”
mirror grew up too. all new gadgetry. mirror
		slaps eye shadow on Baby with a magic tap
	mirror turns Baby into a damn sexy puppy
			a.n.d. shows off to all Baby’s friends. 


---


teeth bared.
	I HAVE TO MOVE. I HATE LIVING HERE
eyes tense wide open.
	WHY DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE EVERYTHING SO DIFFICULT
cheek trickle shimmers gold and black flecks.


---


there’s gold in that river - there’s enough
		deep teal sprinkle shine
	lime lit blinding buckshot scatter glitter
to cram every crack in the 
				side walk

	there’s enough gold in that river to 
smear on the souls we come home
			to, too
		but what alchemy makes
			two “I love You”’s 
into
				
	“I love I”			and
			
				“You love You”