Student


I didn't call back
or speak nicely
when we happened on each other
at the cafe where you sang
the other night
only because of the number of things to say

a high number, larger than
a long friendship, or a heavy, full past
where I was unequal
to your mentoring phrases


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Screened

black tail curled
puma thick and intense
the tip taps and pauses

a stutter in the throat

caught in a loop
of stilted predation
caught watching, watching
with no chance to explode


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Strength Moves

The crack was loud
Her face scrunched
"First, the wine was corked, and now--
I hate to see a wineglass broken."

"It wasn't a favorite."

The evidence swept, our mood
jumped from the couch
to the table under the maple, from
cheese, figs, and a zin
to guacamole and beer
from the independent film
to the bitch at that bar.

It's all in the wrist.

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4/14/2012
by MK