L'Angley S Delmonte

You used to lie in bed
Fingers tracing down to
Count your ribs
One at a time
...

Hold me hanging above the swing set
Shiny green and newfangled
My body is too big for me now
Let me run across to the far tree
...

Hurry
The telephone is ringing
Please put it down
Hang it up
...

, with breath
like
liquid slightly viscous lovely
something
...

the car seat
and you-
it's all water-
holds its shape,
...

nonsense words are
comfort
when you're falling
...

Something's sinking
Something's swaying
Something's throbbing
Everything is spinning
...

There's nothing left
To say
I've let everything I am
Everything I hate
...

Glory happens
In the places
That are reserved for
Sitting in the grimy corner
...

limp&cold
like rotted plants
dirt under fingernails
goddess
...

Blue skies and train wrecks.
The secretary stirs, someone finally called.
Instant reflex.
Hopelessly grasps the wall.
...

Do we fight for our lives or live for our fights?
Our city underwater
We bleed red ink from a black pen.
Early morning never.
...

Newspapers are wet
on the cold cement
in bits and pieces
they speak from under my shoes
...

inside warmth
a humming
of a thousand and one mechanical insects,
Heartbeat
...

The first fallen leaves of the season,
The last.
Clean them up
And throw them away.
...

Front row tickets to the
Underground shows
Chalk lines
Keeping the columns and rows
...

'I'm taking you to Italy, ' you said. 'To Paris. I want you to see the world before it's too late.'
I said, 'We don't have any money.
You said, 'I don't care.'
...

AA T
On the barren land
Lies the barren form
Smooth and endless
...

Still as stone
And cold as I
As far as home
And as alive
...

No one needed to speak
Nothing had to be said
Nausea
And tears
...