she gone

Quite remarkable

How days are made:

our minutes

make her hours

oh, how something so

quick

leaves such a

lasting impression

like paragraph indentations

her words are forever

she hits me hard

in the heart muscle

soft not gentle

every time

fresh as the first

her seconds

is all i want

spontaneous like kerouac

frustrations mount

let them boil over

on the skin of john

like water that scars

let me share

in the sufferings

of Christ on Calvary

let me have it

the thing i don't

know what i'm asking for

The older girls were expert at building it into pompadours with ringlets at ear and nape. Sylvie crossed her legs at the ankles and read magazines. When she got sleepy she would go off to her room and take a nap, and come down to supper with her gorgeous hair rumpled and awry. Nothing could induce vanity in her.

Housekeeping

Marilynne Robinson

So quick, so eager

to pour that poison

on my tongue

let it dribble

off my chin

set fire to my chest

keep me warm

so shortly

fleeting are your ways

yet the habit

like cement

stays

energize my limbs

to act the fool

speak loose

without care

without shame

I wrong so easy

right so wrongly

coerce this cadaver

into action

provide the natural

with unction

divine

Slap the hell out of me

but gently please

Fold it into the layers of my heart,

into the wrinkles of my brain

the silent cry:

God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

grace

cover me

like

gravity