going to temple

if our love is sacred thing
I don't know what you would call our sex
except
ritual.

It worked before

she was a model from New York City and was only visiting
he was from a house two doors away from the bar and would never leave
he downed a beer in a single swallow walked up to her and said
"you ask anyone for fifteen miles, they'll tell you I'm a fuckin' badass."
He smiled and nodded for a while
after she laughed and said
"Oh, really? So you travel too?"

Aint Pressed Yet

aint nothing like a new shirt
wear that out
make sure you don't iron it
cause that way
they can all see them creases
and know you got money
to buy a new shirt every Friday night.

Twitchy

I saw a policeman come in
for a fifth cup of coffee
I hope the next person he pulls over
is as suspicious looking as a ninety-year-old nun.

personal space

this distance between cultures varies
unless you are an overbearing businessman
staring at a foreign female's figure.

Cosmetic Surgery

Doctor makes two incisions
first
one in your left
then
one in your right

leaves you hardwired
thinking
you're attractive.

Drinking Union
standing in line
some folks want to form
an angry communion
with the customers behind them
because their latte is late.
"ya think it's that hard to make one fast? It's just steamed milk and coffee."

as you said
it is just steamed milk and coffee.

Cuttlery

covered in dust
the coffee mugs sat
for four years on a shelf
next to a fading index card
"all four hand-painted nursery rhyme mugs $39.95"
The cup must have ran away with the spoon.
I count only three.

Mayo?

NO.

Snoop

In an interview on a local R and B radio station
he replied to
"sounds like you've been working too hard"
with
"psssht I been working three hard."

stray wanders into a hunting camp

now
it aint like dawg's gonna live anyway
just look at him
it's God awful
all them ticks on his neck
big as quarters
look
see them ribs?
that's disease.
hell
I'm just endin sufferin

Carma

outside the principal's office
a sixth grader
crying
scared
bruised
covered in green beans
was next
because
he fought back against
a funnel chested ninth grade bully
who in a week's time
would
die
in a head-on

First time off a pier?

scared, they caught twelve
and were glad
we were there to tell them
that the things
were called
bat rays

Her threshold?

Guy pulled up a chair
sat down uninvited
at the sight of her textbook
and rambled without pause
about how he hated college
because of all the courses he was forced to take
outside of his curriculum
like parapsychology.
He never looked into her face.

Twenty eight seconds
and her keys came out.

passive aggressive

No
really
I don't mind
at all.

Redneck in the Back Shouted

before open mic night began
as the asian musician strummed
and turned the keys at the end of the guitar

"Hey boy,
that's a Chinese song aint it?
called Tu Ning?"

Musical metric

the quality of a musician
can be determined by how long
he plays melodies
incomplete
in front of an audience
before the show starts.