these
are the second round
of poems
inspired by prompts
from friends
on facebook
my eyes have only seen the surface, jan
knowing life
from outside in
never knowing what’s within
what is within?
peeling back the bark and branches
dissecting the leaves
leaves still
another
deeper
cell
always wrapped by something else
some thing we can see
which is us
the surface even
is invisible.
i have only ever seen me
peeking under the rock
of my own
consciousness
nothing makes sense if we don’t know who we are, don
earlier that night
i stared deep into the eyes
of a man in my dreams
and felt electricity
all around me
he said,
“if you keep coming here,
in ten years, then,
i can tell you who i am”
when i woke up
someone was staring back at me
in the bathroom mirror,
i think he was that
guy from earlier
deja vu, elijah
the familiarity of this place
is almost nauseating
was i here in a dream?
or is this the dream
where i was here in it?
i guess it is kind of a dive bar
all on it’s own residential
block up north side of town
almost feel stuck
here like some version
of myself
has just been here all along
and always will be
what is the future, stephanie
the future
is the seed
at the end of the tunnel
from it, roots sprout backward
into time
becoming every dreamy moment
we currently call now
staying at too nice of a hotel, and realizing,
to your dismay, that in fact you DO enjoy nice things, roman
i had to leave the hostel
one day after checking in
i'm not young anymore
i like nice shit
i'm going to be broke
no matter how much money i make
a hostel seemed like a great idea
one night of cacophonous snoring later
i spent the entire day
scouring amsterdam for a private room
starting a fund, dave
all eggs
one basket
always felt brittle:
let's crack
the big yolk
and let
it trickle
out through
the shower head.
needy kittens, fang
i do not
know
about the needs
of kittens
but i cat sat
momma cat
and boy
could
she
eat
being in your own bed for the first time after a long trip, lisa
the road has been long
my head slept
on the
side of bus windows
airport benches.
i caught a few hours
at hotels
where i wasn’t sure about
the sheets.
out of the taxi
and into my bed
i hear the first
raindrops
pattering me
into half sleep
half bliss.
daydreaming becomes real, lihui
millisecond
head droop
mind image
sensation
waking up
waking
another reality
this one
built up from dream bricks
each a sleepy
day doze
flash
bricks gel
concrete
crenelated tower
manatees, zi
plorbous bodies
drifting under mud sea
a mangrove cow
we mourn
a world getting too cruel
and hot
for such a peaceable
plump
sea grazer as you
a man’s poetic retelling of the woman’s ovarian cycle, sakura
uncertain dry tentative
a squeeze
comfy understanding
we can but don’t have to
things seem stable
new moon flips to wax
a tingling
a warmth
passionate advances
old wounds
delicate tantrum
ecstatic release
drawn water pulls red
tension breaks
into pain and relief
there’s no baby
letting go but not wanting to, carla
quivering hand hold
wet smile
what we saw was one moon
and its antechambers
the difference
between yours and you’re
love we can look in the eyes
those grinning tears
are the hardest
to wipe away
stay for a couple
more cry laughs
eat these
cookies with
me