Cryptic, Random, Strange, Senseless Poetry--Repost
A Non-Name
Whoinfluenced you?
Theyask you
did you name yourself?
How did you come up
withthese complicated stories
aboutthe heart that asks
questionsabout the nose?
Theysay you can smell your life
betterthan you can think it.
Rememberwhen you and I played
onthe monkey bars
and we thought we were
importantpeople when we fell
andscraped our knees
andcried the ugly cry for ourselves?
Iremember the stink of your red shoes then.
Click,click, Dorothy wants to go home,
ETphones it in.
Bigbird sings the alphabet
andyou and you and I flip channels.
Here’sto you, Mrs. Robinson!
Thescent of your cookie dough is better than
whenyou bake yourself in the oven.
SylviaPlath, I call you when you cry.
Wedidn’t know how to cry for other people
thenand we never really learned
thatwe are matter and matter doesn’t die and it does matter.
Andwe are no different than the stars
thatmake a dozen mistakes while looking pretty.
Youask me how can a light
bewrong? How can you smell a light?
Itell you, you are a light,
justbecause you don’t notice the scent, does not mean
Youdon’t have one.
Whyis it that you think you are none?
Theblack hole even knows
Ican breathe it in my nose,
andit has a name, somebody gave it one.
*
The Fly
Wesat on the porch
watchingthe firefly’s
rehearsinga ballet in the sky.
Wedidn’t need to see them
tounderstand that beauty
canbe annoying,
Abuzz near your ear.
Ora black fly trying to make it
ina world that hates tiny faces
thathave no name.
Weplot to kill you and you know it.
Iwill name you my friend
youare the first to notice
that the world is burning down.
Youdon’t know
Youdon’t know
howhard it is to smile while
facesand places are all around me
butI barely can recognize myself.
I’ma girl
whocannot see the nuances
yousee.
Ithink I cannot fly.
*
Are you Free?
Doyou think you own yourself
ordo you see even that as a
betrayalof your freedom?
Youcannot own beauty
Sohow can you be beautiful?
Ithink flowers in the rain
arefreedom and in essence
yourpain is a form of oppression.
Bynature, by your mind.
Ichanged my name
soyou could pronounce it.
Ichanged my hair
soyou could like it.
Iwalked to the left
insteadof the right
soyou would know where I stood.
Iam compulsive.
Politicsaside
doyou think I’m pretty?
Doyou think I’m sad?
Doyou wonder if I could dance
withyou in a garden
ofpurple hyacinths?
Stepthis way and that
useyour words, see your rhythm.
Don’ttrip on the wire
everyonealways forgets
aboutthe chord,
inthe way of our Wednesdays.
Weare always in the middle
Neverbe too shy to fall down
inthe middle of the week.
Inthe middle of your life,
whenyou can see forward and back.
Whenelse will you be you?
*
Fruit
Iwas thinking of making sense
thatday, when you said you
brushedyour teeth for me.
AndI didn’t notice that biting
intoapples creates our lives.
Thatwe need nothing more
thena fruit and a fairytale
tokeep us occupied.
Withlies and flies and
andstrawberry lips
youkissed me with your watermelon
goodbyes.And the way
youlooked at me
Icould have sworn I saw the moon
inyour raspberry smile.
Thereis a seed in your mouth
Thattells me everything I need to know
aboutgrowing a garden.
Slicesof orange and the way
Ipeeled a grape only to feel
itsessence in my hands.
Ifelt dirty that day
Andyou knew what I didn’t say.
Youstood there in the doorway,
singinga song you made up.
Noneof us are clean
likethe dirt that makes the fruit.
Weare also made of earth
Eventhough we don’t know its name.
*
Re-runs
Isat with the TV on watching a surprise party on a Friends re-run.
ThenI turn to you and say, this one is like Golden Girls
andyou look at me as if I told you the earth was triangular.
Andyou say how many times can we watch this episode
beforewe memorize the ending, know all the jokes.
AndI ask you what will happen next.
Yousay wait until the applause, you’ll figure it out when you hear yourself
intheir voices over and over again.
Youlit a cigarette that time you watched the Cheers finale one more time.
Yousaid you wanted everyone to know your name.
Theydon’t. You will have to tell them over and over again.
nina