the present, in quarters



1. today’s bright idea



high before class

to make time pass smoothly		instead

 	i’m staring out the door again

	finding more excitement in walking faces

		than the stationary graceless bigbellybutton man

and he says

	back in the day they bred a lot	gave the

		whole lot to the whole to divide		

but i’m

			just space cadet staring

wondering how that bellybutton lets him

		out of the house without shame	i’d

lock myself in a rapunzel tower if that were on me 		and stay put till

						body parts sized down a little.



2. temporal distance



i am 24 but i cannot be trusted

	to ride a bus alone at night	because i am geographically impaired

		and have trouble telling on campus from off

		i can however eat an entire

		jar of hot-pepper bread & butter pickles

in under 48 hours and one of			jalepenos

	in less than a week						



like a

troubadour you appreciate these things			in the 

	depths of morning i call out for you		to let down your hair so i

				can climb it up			in through your window 

and you 		always, always adorn it with ribbons for me.





3. eartha kitt had something going



give me a castle, my darling		i’ll

	be nonchalant as she would be		   merely

		bat my eyes and act real wise i don’t

	need an old-fashioned millionaire see i’m down

		to let it all be ethereal		i want simply

silver stone walls and greco-roman columns		with life-sized isis and osiris statues

	(maybe bast and sekhmet too)

and of course i require               (cont. same stanza)

				the plushest carpets your toes never

		sank their feet into and a servant or twelve or two (you

 	know how i loathe taking out trash)		and maybe a lady in waiting

to costume me she	can take turns with my makeup artist have no 

		fear my dear  i’ll make time for both			wait and see after just 

a short while

i could become

the goddess i am.





4. it only hurts the first hundred times



birds in latin turtle 

            satin the 	bread and the knife shall

run away with a loon		you know i 

didn’t figure i

would make you cry

let alone twice

it’s not like i tried

but since we 		hit the deer together and i 

 	said its eyes will haunt me forever

you may as well know

yours never leave either.