December 24, 2002
Poem for Penelope
Let's see....when were you here?
November?...mid?...earlier, later?...
(dates and me....terrible!)
you came with him...
without warning me
a phone call, "I'm in the carport"
Since that evening I noticed inside you
what was always there
...digitally...
a disadvantaged diamond
you wear him like a second soul
you lift him with your scrawny bones
Nothing that belongs leaves for very long
fixed to a string or an anchor...
like a moon
but goddam...who cares
you have to be you
98 pounds of gush! ...and mush!
He's the bumper sticker you'd never put on your car
...ornamental as shit
He is a breakfast stain on your blouse
...butter dripped off a pie-slice bagel
glued there till 6pm
for all to see
Suddenly he scoots off to NO
and everybody's up all night...
but he returns...yes....he returns
you watch the morning air lift a sun rise
sometimes you don't know he's near...
then without warning he is so heavy you must lie down.