A.M. comedy

you took my picture
and then showed me right away
(bless technology).

I saw it and laughed
because I've aged a decade
in the past six months.

"Jesus, if I look
this bad NOW, what will I look
like in ten more years ?"

you narrow your eyes
and correctly estimate
"twenty-two and blond."

i'm a fucking genius, folks.

today's brilliant
idea : deciding to give
my dog a haircut.

her contribution :
walking through the little pile
of curls on the floor.

our dirty roommate

when you love a dog
it doesn't matter that their
breath smells like garbage

or they have cornflakes
coming out of their eyes or
dreads on their tuchus

a new mother cries at the drop of a hat

we watch each other
in the wavy mirror and
you see that i am

crying warm spring rain
tears and so you laugh and laugh
and then i laugh too.

our ritual

each morning we cut
perfectly cooked medium
boiled eggs into

quarters, sprinkle them
with coarse salt (sometimes pepper)
and eat them with toast.

the fly

you won't believe this,
but here goes : i'd been trying
to kill the fucker

for three days, at least.
his relentless buzzing left
me delirious

and had my cats on
sleepless high-alert. so,,,
he landed beside

the sink, on the rim
of a recently washed glass.
fucking brazen, right ?

"you fucking piece of
shit. you torture me for days
and now this ? marring

my stemware with your
fucking filthy feet ? are you
fucking kidding me ?"

i watched him clean his
mandibles with his legs, not
a care in the world.

what could i do ? i'd
been bested. it was time to
'let go, and let God.'

now for the fun part.
i came back to the kitchen
five minutes later,

and what do i find ?
a shiny green buoy in
my coffee. Amen !

as it is

you were in my dreams
before you came. to be clear,
it was a portrait,

not YOU in the flesh.
because in the dream, you were
grown and gone, and i

was old and lonely.
you sat, smiling that chipmunk
grin of yours, your cheeks

full, your hair a blend
of ash and umber. and your
eyes -- deep and dark, like

Flow Blue china plates.
what struck me, though, was your teeth.
tiny white chicles,

cutting through your gums.
such a detail is often
missed in my dreams, but

there they were, peaking
through that perfect smile, above
that morsel of chin.

and here they are now,
biting my finger, as you
squeal and kick your feet.