The Art Of Walking Home – 1

I like the idea of putting my recent, finished stuff in one place. So here it is.

To borrow or to keep, some goddamn poems.

Have at it.

I am not a lawyer, I’m an artist.

Few things are as damaging 
as an insincere expression of faith.

This we have in common. 

This and that distinct, Amtrak smell--that 
same, steril static. We hurry home 

Both of us--hungry. Tired.
Trying to be good for something. 

--

Coordinates 

Silly and sturdy 
Needed for flight paths 
And some kind of sweetness

To which we point and say here	Look here
This is the place that I came from

--

TGIF

Since 1993 the ocean has risen 
3.6 inches. This isn’t a lot, unless you’re 5’ 9” 
or here--on Earth and thank God

It’s Friday. I’m crossing 
Out to-do lists whole.

I do not talk about the future 
In the same way I used to--my mouth is full of water
And it’s awfully rude to spit. 
I do not imagine the future

In the same way I used to--but see, I’ll write it down anyway.
So that in the moments before these words sink
Our future will have existed, somewhere. 

--

Ode To Pubic Hair 


Lovely bush, God save it
To have worked up such a mane
My dear long distance boyfriend
Will never know the same
The work the love--the stories told 
Out from in the land between
An unmatched glory to behold
No other eye has seen. 

--

What I eat to stay in shape 

I had acrylic nails when the world stopped.
It felt good to neglect something without recourse. 

I lived in one room, peed on the hour walked 
in concentric circles fell In love on the internet ate

boxes of cereal dry ate Instant oatmeal dry ate
and wished I had a better excuse. 

so it wouldn’t be my fault. ate glue
to patch the hole ate mycelium to expedite
 
decay ate the things I didn't have time for ate
my childhood stuffed dalmatian ate a phone call 

home ate my grandfather’s funeral ate skin not
worth touching ate gummy vitamins by the handful.

I ate all of the liquor 
I ate 10 lbs then I ate the scale I ate 

styrofoam cups plastic cups compostable 
plastic cups I ate microplastic (fruit flavored)

I ate Boulder Creek I ate the skatepark I ate
The fear I felt walking by the skatepark I ate time



I ate so much time. 

--

Even The Cemeteries 

There was whistling overhead. 
Instead of ducking and covering, as the instructions say, 
She asked, “Huh?” 
Fear didn’t come until later.

I woke up too late to shower.
I put my hair up, brushed my teeth--
Ran down 16th street watching my breath. 
I was late to sell coffee. 

They had been shelling. Even the cemeteries. 

Losing everything cannot happen quickly. 
“Huh?” she said, naturally. 
She did not duck and cover. Fear, she said, came later.
And then? What will come then?

I scrubbed the kitchen drains with bleach.
They found the body of a 17 year old girl today.
Wiped tables, chairs, door handles. 
Bodies are not things we should have to find.
I had a cigarette. Smiled for tips.

I walked home slow, 
I let my hair down and it touched my waist. 

They were shelling, 
“Huh?”
Even the cemeteries. 

That’s all for now.

I love you. Please take care.

x. Al