A IS FOR DEVOTION

sweet animal faith or
being the candle you hold
your burial love
no judgment starlit
sorrow sickness salted 
no pretense, the honest crumble 
cozy dozy soft vital fight
devotion to the miracle, stooped
protector eyes bathed traffic red
the wild take taking on the world
dignity a house with veins
safe beauty aging real
pillows and blankets and breakfasts and movies
the settling pain but also drains and napkins
and vibrato tart gladness
ginger beers on yard ice
presents and words and
opulent ballpoint not letting up
not faking the trail of empty paper bags 
standing upright like people 
the sleeping the curling to rain
cloaks of sirens the chainsaw beneath the bed
the wide talks the gray waves out plotting
potholes the crowded story teeth
the cavern nostrils the strong arms
I wandered down a trail to you
not misguided not careful
dark hum of love and death
night sand a rolling bottle floored and flooded
by your downy creature howling life
a dare to always hold your love the old way
simple by the handle
violent like family sprouted from  
my planted gravel heart
trust you evenly amidst 
the crimes  
best i can i think
i will i
can

Confessional Poem to be Read in the Style of George Thorogood

 

My writing partner won’t drink coffee at my house

Because it’s disgusting

It’s really not that disgusting

I just make it a little weird

One day I ran out of coffee and I said

You know what? I’ll quit

But I’d walk by the coffee shop

Soon I was spending $10 everyday on fancy coffee

I became friends with all the baristas

I’m codependent, so I make new friends wherever I go

One barista told me he was launching a poetry chapbook

I felt pressured to go for no reason

When I got to the chapbook launch I was uncomfortable

No one talked to me 

I drank some orange wine, even though I don’t drink anymore

I knew I’d made a grave mistake

I could tell they were all thinking

Yeah I told her about it, but I didn’t think she would actually show up

I thought it would be weirder if I suddenly left

I wondered why I even tried to quit drinking coffee in the first place

Maybe it was because I felt judged by this one cheap asshole I was seeing

For spending $7 at Blue Bottle, but I should have been like 

Motherfucker you should see the money I’ve wasted on yayo

My chevy bangin hey-o

I went home and researched espresso machines

My addiction had progressed, so I couldn’t go back to my old machine

I got the Delunghi Specialista

It’s whatever

You know in “Half Baked” when Bob Saget incredulously aks Dave Chapelle

Have you ever sucked some dick for marajuana?

Well under the right circumstances I might suck dick for some decent espresso

But I’m grateful to be privileged enough that I’ll never be confronted by that situation

Ruined

Miriam and I 
realizing she only understood the word “ruined”
when she pronounced it phonetically in her thick Sicilian accent 

roo-EE-ned

could not

stop 

laughing

In deep Covid we were

like magnets

cooking and arguing 

I am deeply comforted by other Italians yelling at me about 

how to cook and eat 

No one yells here

My nonno was stationed in Sicily

from Piemonte, in the more reserved North 

to “supervise” brothels 

Sounds like he had fun

One night in the kitchen

I told Miriam about how we were

uprooted from northern Italy, after 500 years 

during Mussolini’s fascism

I watched the loss hit her heart

Her broken Italy

She started wondering to me about her name, Miriam

a Jewish name 

She watched me light candles 

and do the the blessings

mesmerized

by my ancient thing

my unbroken thing

She taught me a hand gesture

mimicking heavy balls (like, testicles)

for when someone is being uptight

Very useful in Boston 

Last Shabbat

Sam was talking again about languages

Comparing Spanish and Italian  

I chimed in how phonetic Italian is 

He challenged me, I backed off 

People started pronouncing my name in their guess of Italian 

Instead of asking me how to pronounce 

my own name 

Or asking me anything 

I forgot about “roo-EE-ned” in the moment 

I’m laughing remembering it now

Sometimes we text each other that we are still laughing 

I’ll text her now  

Ruined

😂