one line drawing

.nebulousessentialthingsleadtoopendoorsthatnevermadesensetoopenbefore.

(read it backwards and you'll see what I mean)

New York: From jmharper and jfmay

i was in new york for her first snow.
I remember how badly I wished as we froze
we walked times square till nearly two o'clock
that I would remember all this
in the morning;
at least enough to write something down.

but that's ok because the lights in times square
As cool as they were when we touched them
were taught to be the sun
as if they were as natural as the woman sitting
by men with big wrenches and lightbulb boxes.
on the street with their banjos.
so on they shine, waking the night on the back of black limousines.

after we finished our movie and they finshed theirs,
I followed you – a firefly finding something brighter
we met up near that small stand on the corner
– and I lost track of us on the pocket map
with the yelling vendor who sold good tasting foods.
that refused to tell us where we were.

grand central station was quite grand,
I couldn’t find it again if I tried
and, well, a very central station. the ceiling was alive,
running around like New Yorkers
the windows, like towers of vintage light.
we never saw a thing we set to see.
can you hear the trains? the schedules flipping...
Proving that things were moving along.
our legs got sore after blocks and blocks,
The same blocks from last time we were here
and jeans felt too cold on the legs...they don't warn you of this in films
feel differently when
on the subway back home
the feeling in my toes is gone
out of the corner of my eye, a thought sprang...

keep watching until it boils over,
seeps into your pores,
makes you want to
race your heart
to see who crosses first.

absence only makes you fonder
if you were fond to start

All is fare in love and war

and all your pennies earned
don't buy you a thing.

it must be bad

you know it must be bad
when even sticky buns don't help
when cinnamon rolls
and chocolate chips eaten right from the bag
and cookie dough
can't help ease the strain
on sloppily sutured wounds

banned words list:

evermore
indeed
dream (as verb in all tenses and as noun)
adore (all tenses plus adoration)
desire (all verbs and noun)
beloved
void
gate
empty (and emptiness, etc.)
gaze (noun and verbs)
ponder (all tenses)
hate (noun and verbs, also hatred)
freedom
memory (and plural, and remember & its tenses)
beautiful (and beauty, etc.)
wonderful
honor (noun and verbs)
truth
heart
like (try out a metaphor before succumbing to a simile)
lie
passion
bondage
weep/wept/tears
false
lips (or lip)
splendor
touch (noun and verbs)
bled/bleeding/blood etc.
blossom (noun and verbs)
sprout (noun and verbs)
moon
sun
clouds
stars
Love

things are ringing
blinking like aging neon signs
that can't decide if they are open or not.

OPEN
O EN

OPEN

chicago part 1

It's the feeling of reaching the end of the line,
realizing you've gone too far,
that you should have transfered
to the green four stops ago.

Having no choice but to lay down
off the grass:
In the winter they ask you to
go around.

Eating and buying in the same places
you've never been.