start to imagine
seawaves swerving
start to imagine
bombs exploding
plus Humphrey Bogart’s yearning
for obliteration
oscillating between Jiffy-Lube stations
which station gives the best erasure
which station is by accident in Coney Island
sinking away from the Doges Palace
I wanted to say Barbara Stanwyck but was embarrassed
so I said Red Cross instead
are a night nurse’s duties
implied by a beetle’s slow crawl toward an evaluation
of marriage on the first page
of Women in Love as recited
morosely by the rabbi he did not become

The Groove of the Ineligible

what makes the groove ineligible
ineligible for snacking
ineligible for legibility
sinuses contain several alphabets
to unclog the nose
deposit yourself in the groove of the ineligible
different medicines all pointed in the same direction
the meat direction
to please my master
the first bucket is Vitamin C
the second bucket is nude audition
the third bucket is internal catechism
is there a fourth bucket or does the story end
the fifth bucket is the harbormaster
decoding the tattoo between his asymmetrical aureoles

Shopping Mall Beaux

fever in the station wagon’s back seat
begging the father for shrimp morsels
closure happened accidentally in the back room
after I crossed the threshold
the fever rose
father had no responsibility for fever
no knowledge of fever and its implements
how to adore fever and how to conquer it
in the elevator she said it had been a dreadful year
he repeated the story
the sixth-grade boy claimed bragging rights over French fries
imagining that French fries unlocked every beau
a shopping mall beau on each arm
fat wallet in his back pocket
the first cold sore I queried and understood as allegorical
red zone at lower lip’s corner
and a tendency to retain spittle
spittle a symptom of braggadocio
I loved the cold sore and the spittle
the wallet and the plethora of beaux
on the lam in the mall
the mall lamb
the mauled lamb
mild forefather of wish and sacrifice







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