I am your leader
and I can’t answer
without considering
the insipidness
of your need
for instruction
and cataloguing it
within my list
of what’ll work
to get through a day
with you. The gold
crowns the green
even in these
trembling daffodils
and I know you love me
and you love one another
but I only love you
because I love
my contempt.
Here, your new skills
and there, a fleece vest
with one-quarter zip.
You’ve learned every lover
seeks the other’s inspection
that each may tell
the encouraging story
of a life properly inspected.
For now, let’s all love
my contempt.
(Don’t ever mistake
our fun events
and my fun face.
They are elaborations
of my contempt.)
You’re Not Full Till Everyone Else Goes Hungry
He says we never paid attention to bells
Never needed to
Our military operates only through the mail
There are twenty-four lessons that take two years to study
If a student doesn’t realize she is unfolding there isn’t much we can do
We’d like to give the lessons for nothing
But we have a growth on our ribs and the only way the doctors can get it is
to saw through six feet of brick
Love feels like all the senses you use during the day relax and other senses
begin to misanthropically surface
That, we don’t want
That’s an experience
of deprivation
which leads to loitering, “I don’t
really need this should I
put it back?” “No. Take its
photo” (she was speaking in a heavy
Russian accent) — “To open a store you first
make a list of all the money you’re going to lose
then you start to lose it and feel