Variations on the Word Love -Margaret Atwood

This is a word we use to plug
holes with. It’s the right size for those warm
blanks in speech, for those red heart-
shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing
like real hearts. Add lace
and you can sell
it. We insert it also in the one empty
space on the printed form
that comes with no instructions. There are whole
magazines [...]

Read Full Post »

only only only

i can only think about bukowski.
regrets, passion, go go go, will do, am doing, cannot do.
I’m In Love
she’s young, she said,
but look at me,
I have pretty ankles,
and look at my wrists, I have pretty
wrists
o my god,
I thought it was all working,
and now it’s her again,
every time she phones you go crazy,
you told me it was [...]

Read Full Post »

one of the last things i ever did write

I.
he loved her like an autumn
of brief winds and orange skies,
landscapes of colors and cool starry nights.
loved her like glass,
delicate and fragile,
like the vase that teetered on the corner of the table
as she ran out the door
and she stood in cold street,
waiting for him to follow.
he loved her like family,
with long arms and deep soul.
the [...]

Read Full Post »

[naming names]

Chemical names, bird names, names of fire
and flight and snow, baby names, paint names,
delicate names like bones in the body,
Rumplestiltskin names that are always changing,
names that no one’s ever able to figure out.
Names of spells and names of hexes, names
cursed quietly under the breath, or called out
loudly to fill the yard, calling you inside again,
calling [...]

Read Full Post »