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That crucial difference

come on down

on crushed spirits

 

bring me your

broken promises

 

I’ll take all 

secret wishes

 

and any

last chances

 

join me on the lost crusade

gone tomorrow here today

roll up for that passion play

staring you and me and everyone else

 

we don’t need

reservations

 

leave behind

hesitations

 

I’ll bring enough 

skepticism

...

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Mutual Savings

I saved you from that guy 

from talking suicide 

I don’t think he was worth 

the Netflix renewal

 

you saved me from myself 

tinder girls as well 

who kept me out well past my 

middle school curfew

 

we spent our savings on each other 

although we weren’t lovers

comrades in a life

without a fast forward

 

we blew it on vacations

wine and overnight sh...

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Thinking about the park when it's closed

all life is movement

all movement’s not life

 

I found this out recently

as my past few decades would testify

 

that impatience I took as dedication

revealed itself to me

 

as just another neuroses 

one in a series of many

 

I try to work slowly now 

I openly imitate those trees

 

you find swaying in a storm 

on most days still standing

 

with ...

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The King of Sweet Nothings

I feel so rich

don’t touch anything

 

anything you wish

I’ll order immediately

 

everything you see

is here for now

 

you could be the queen

of credit cards

 

as everything falls through our hands

I’m a billionaire of unseen plans

 

spend a day in my invisible museum

right next to the sex planetarium 

 

let’s celebrate the time we have now

I...

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Let's go to the store

 

you can go to the 

supermarket 

for the bright lights 

and cashiers

 

they cheer you up 

not judging what you buy 

why there’s no 

fresh vegetables 

 

and a lot of ice-cream 

when you’re feeling lonely

taking it out on your body 

for getting in the way 

 

of all that 

sexiness

 

you can even 

overspend your cards

as long as you have 

...

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Characters

I find myself in one of her stories

she finds it all a bit too boring

 

how it takes pages to get the setting

while she’s moved on to television

 

we’re compelled to act

nothing’s a distraction

 

then when the language hits

it creates shifts in perception

 

here we go again

another transformation

 

something we can just 

barely understand

 

as ...

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North and South

ahh that taste that comes

from your mouth

there’s no struggle

sweeter than the pressure

we put on ourselves

 

driven from above and below

latitudes, attitudes never match

dragging in the undertow

you change the sweater in the middle of the mess

 

could I interest you in

some East meets West

heading for the mountains and the beach

we need the contrast 

 

...

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Prove you’re not a Robot (Attachment Unavailable)

all I ask when 

we take a bath 

 

when we relax 

feel each other close 

 

I will know then 

what makes sense

 

what feels 

like something else 

 

I wanna share then 

some human-ness 

 

there are people 

that we meet 

 

work for

owe money to 

 

see on the street

go home make love to 

 

they make us feel 

synthetic 

 

I...

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Where the logic breaks

under her careful watch

behind her waking thoughts

when she’s had too much

feeling it’s never enough

 

after a day in the mud

fighting everyone 

sometimes just to save that soul 

she reaches for my gun 

 

where the logic breaks 

meet you in two shakes 

you don’t have to wait 

I’m already on the train 

 

where the logic breaks 

calculation’s delicate 

...

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The optimist

so you’re an optimist 

that’s some cult

ignoring science,

advice of the young 

 

an optimist 

how transgressive 

obvious, annoying 

how retarded 

 

you cling to things 

you don’t understand 

put faith in people 

without plans 

 

believe in love 

like beatles songs 

keep on working 

after time’s run out 

 

like an insect 

on a flower 

...

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Libraries

I spent a youth in libraries 
quiet in stacks 
running fingers over centuries 
things compelling and useless

I developed these habits 
that’ll see me to my grave 
lost in a thousand adventures 
this imagination can’t be saved 

she’s quiet and strict 
sweater, glasses, lipstick 
bothering her on the clock 
taking volumes checking her out 

now I’m grown and I’ve built 
my collecti...

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The Underdog

doesn’t have his pen

makes noises with his desk

 

breaks every mask

wants bathroom every period

 

refuses to read along

pretends he can’t write

 

if you text his mom

puts his head down and cries 

 

kids say shutthefuckup 

every time he speaks

 

you think the same thing

professionally

 

can’t stop listening 

to gangsta rap 

 

ex-student...

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Unless

To understand what you are 
might take a lifetime 

and art and music and love 
and you might just find 

that you sell yourself short 
have yourself a bit wrong 

and maybe then
there’ll be some action-time left, 

unless…

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Convenient Metaphors

Flowers
Trees
Sunset
Books
Terrible sudden pain in my calf
Children
Music 
Oppressive directives from admin
Love
Coughing

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Ideology’s for Kids

Have I got an 

ideology for you 

 

for every age 

and interest 

 

every level

of development 

 

every childhood

disappointment  

 

every fear

and resentment 

 

it makes perfect 

sense 

 

and you’ll never 

have to

 

think for yourself 

again

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Undoing

I’d like to invite you to my undoing 

at a time and place of your choosing 

 

I’m always meeting you for the first time

with an energy that’s really not mine

 

how easily you’d become the best part of me 

what we don’t admit  lies in wait to see

 

behind calories memories and stress 

conspiring with what we’ve always dreamt 

 

to turn us into 

something else

...

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Irwin Shaw

muscle and bone and alcohol 

three in the morning siren call

haunted by the shape of a body 

echoing thoughts; the city’s empty 

 

panther haunches move across 

a day burned out by what you’ve done

it can’t be shared with god

you can’t be absolved 

 

holding a promise as wide as America 

by the time they tore you down 

you were exiled  

inspiration hits with ...

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Sound the gong

every relationship 

is a relationship 

 

we spend time with

doing terrible things to 

 

dreaming of them 

never telling one thing though 

 

showing up 

just doing what counts 

 

in the end there’s only that feeling of love

 

all physical traces

disappear 

 

while the memories  

linger

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Cause + Affectation

you want to 

 

engage my trauma

and play with it

use it in a story

make love to it

 

make it dinner

wrap it in theory

promise you’ll never mention it

take it to the party

 

go back in time

gratify it orally

build a center on it

print it three-d

 

acknowledge it 

in a painful speech

 

be recognized 

for your bravery

 

advocate for...

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It's your own rockn'roll

It’s your own rockn’roll 

blaring from your phones

no one else can hear 

a tiny crowd’s roar 

 

your choreography’s lost 

on your arthritic boss 

lighting show gets 

packed up in the smoke 

 

but you killed it 

left them stupid 

hit after hit 

ringing in their ears 

 

you killed it 

you’ll do it again 

after the weekend 

opening for the bus 

...

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Teaching body

these arms trees 
those roots deep
what you feel reverberates 
over centuries 

these lips political 
those hips spiritual
a neck a totem 
dreams hanging on 

feet machines 
ears tuned in 
hands calloused 
half-tender now

teaching body 
reaches for sky 
teaching body 
diving into sheets 

teaching body 
drinking oceans 
forgets to breathe 
as she swims 
 

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Talking to adults about Clocks

The way the clock works 

is tricky

 

because lines look evenly spaced 

they’re not; 

 

counted in milliseconds 

between five AM and six 

 

stretching days 

from eight to four

 

and then out to infinity 

before I see you again

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Stories

Stories tell me stories
Lay them on top of me

Pile them high as I sleep
They become memories

Pounded into me 
Oh the bloody ink

I see a life ahead of me 
A life behind outlined

In words and thoughts
That are maybe mine

They follow a line 
Weaved together
 
With the hard work
Of discerning meaning

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One more last chance

odds against me

fifty-fifty

but don’t bet against

come from behind victories

 

bunch of late bloomers

in a table vase

shakers and movers

glued to our seats

 

with a past kicking my ass

every chance is the last

thinking very slow

moving very fast

 

what I could do for you

what you could do for me

points that conclude

without even touching

 

...

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Save a bit of the mystery for me

I’ve paced the width and length of the cage 

creating waffles on my feet

 

memorized the paths of stars

names of all monsters of the deep

 

but when I see you in the evening 

I know you’ve saved a bit of the mystery for me

 

boss goes on droning

targets needing to be reached

 

the drones fly below

the radar’s tiny sweeps

 

you remove your dress

my de...

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Hacking Sex

Deep in the plastiosphere

Desires mix with air 

Merging with us

On a molecular level

 

Dreaming strange things

That seem compelling

You don’t know what they mean

As they hijack your destiny

 

You want someone remote

Who never takes off their clothes

Who recites obscure quotes

While breaking your bones 

 

You buy appliances

That run on the afterlife

...

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As stupid as it seems

I still believe

Still have these dreams

Little naive

Late in the game

 

Others succeed

Adding fortune

I stare into the night

With my delusions

 

You wouldn’t recognize me

I haven’t changed

Nothing I’ve seen

Has shaken my faith

 

Every day

Gives me strength

To this feeling I’ll repay

Everything I have

 

As long as I breathe

As much as I...

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My Bank Account

Click Me

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Retconning You

 

it was all for you 

even when it wasn’t 

those unmade beds

lying by the dozens

 

I adjust the calendar 

gain perspective 

every new entrance

a learning experience 

 

the ministry 

will have its way 

photos airbrushed

names changed

 

but you can count on me

on the fingers I have

from the nape of your neck

to the small of your back

 

c...

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Chère Heights

In 1982

American men

discover the clitoris 

 

responses range 

from shock to fear

to suspicion 

 

yet none are brave enough

to claim

they invented it

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A Person of Interest

don’t do this to me

not now, not here

 

I need this come

from behind victory

 

get me later

I won’t care

 

there were too many 

humiliations

 

too many loses 

unaddressed

 

not looking for vindication

not out for revenge

 

just need that accounting

alone with myself

 

don’t do this to me

not with something so crude

 

I am a pe...

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Her Story Checks Out

keep your inferences

under your suspicions

tamper with the evidence

she’s got witnesses

 

you match the description

as well do hundreds

devil’s in the details

so’s god

 

the story checks out

the chronology stuck

testimonies recorded

it must’ve been love

 

(there might be a more

prosaic explanation-

alien visitation?)

but it probably was

 

...

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Bad CGI

I can’t look back 
It’s a trap 
that gorgon’s head
taped to my hat

I move forward 
tearing plans
filling grab’n’go bags
with a free hand

what I need 
I don’t exactly know
when I see her
I’ll suspect she’ll know

until that time
I change on a dime
that track record’s now
embarrassingly long

can’t look back 
not my crack
nothing’s stopped me
it’s gotten close

health rema...

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I live like this

as a kid I always pretended 

to escape any situation 

 

attacks from monsters 

sudden impacts, super-villianesses 

 

now that I’m grown I’ve never known 

clean escapes without consequences

 

dragging my body through a zone 

lit by memories and burning questions 

 

situations, complications 

degrees of humiiation

 

strength of weapons, nerve damage

he...

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onset of depression in 21st century adolescents

Its image on the flag 

and currency

 

It’s cry in many

folkloric stories

 

you hear a sad voice 

in its chirping melodies

 

adding an order fries 

with a cup of chipotle 

 

satiety you feel

chewing and swallowing

 

happy faces

on all of the marketing

 

as you move on to dessert

filing feelings away 

 

in box marked “scary”

to be ope...

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Another Multiverse

there was a woman I loved 

in another country

a thought that haunts 

while doing laundry 

 

feelings I found 

inside a recording 

us here right now 

doing nothing but worrying

 

I spend my weekends 

staring at the ceiling

making connections 

repairing dreams

 

and memories into 

intersecting designs

not many straight lines 

sort of charming 

...

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Well Done

Well Done

 

I’ll just shoot you 

gently at first then all at once

you said it yourself 

you’re so done

 

prayers unanswered 

help’s hung up

what did we do to deserve this

losing the refund 

 

suspecting it was 

that stupid all along

remaining hopeful-

thats our job

 

counting on cupidity

to smooth things out 

decades speed by 

without a s...

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The Partial Object

there’s a resemblance

harmony more sympathetic

than complementary

it standing out from the rest

 

not sure what to do with it

fuck it eat it

kill it

love it would be hardest yet

 

when you almost feel your

synapses firing you admit

you never had a say in

your response to it

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Minutiae

Your minutiae’s given wing 

flown away 

landing in someone else’s ear

for tomorrow, today 

 

no more conversations 

about your mother the job  

no more tiny victories 

that got me excited about…

 

I miss the details 

sand in my hair 

the traction provided 

in a life sliding unchecked 

 

I try to capture a second 

of what I felt 

not enough for a s...

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Forever Chemicals

When everything feels poisoned 

and nothing seems true 

I pull in your signal 

it scatters my blues 

 

swimming towards you 

you're flying over me 

in mid-air we're

collided and steady 

 

forever chemicals 

mutating it seems 

I can’t understand you 

they keep me going 

 

tension unfolds 

in an exquisite dance 

choreographed folklore 

from a fut...

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Promotion

it’s your turn to be 

that crazy person

 

the role has recently

been vacated 

 

you’ll have to face 

their cruelty directly 

 

stomaching the looks

of incomprehension 

 

it’ll cost a pretty penny 

thank god for insurance 

 

getting those thoughts out

at any price will surely be worth it

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“Stubborn” in eleven languages (by order of need)

teimosa

ganko 

têtue

tvrdohlavý

hartnäckig

obstinada

mkaidi

koppig

pakeke

עַקשָׁן

لجوج

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Portuguese/Japanese/French/Slovak/German/Spanish/Swahili/Dutch/Maori/Hebrew/Farsi

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What the songs tell us

We’re not deep enough

we risk nothing

tip-toeing around what we want

never knowing

 

We’ve a fear of death

as if it could be avoided

we won’t be hurt

not if we can help it

 

Voyeurs of the world

we could never hold it

thinking we can control it

we’re left alone as a result

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A history of linen

the fascists had great style 

were very witty 

their women were charming

 

they had sympathizers 

and for time 

seemed to be winning 

 

there was something appealing 

about a logic everyone could 

understand 

 

not like our lives

messy and imperfect 

full of obvious errors 

 

we reenact these struggles 

every night 

the outcome's always in ques...

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Approaching the work

If you just sidled up next to it

took it unawares

starting in your pajamas

I don’t think it’d care

 

It knows you’ve been contemplating

It for hours

It complains about how you stare

Maybe after the shower

 

Or refrigerated chocolate bar

You’ll sliding tackle it

Stabbing it

With a pen in the guts

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Lullabye

are we still in a lull

how long does it last

you seem depressed

why do you ask

 

I'd give you a call

if you’d respond

you might not be up

preferring down

 

my friend Carl

used to savor one

paired with a wine

writing dead stars

 

I use the time

to be unproductive

putting existential goals in order

working seductions

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Wherewithal by Night

darker times than these

have crossed minds over centuries

wondering how you’ve missed

the wherewithal-they haven’t shared any

 

looking at your wrists

scarred wrens on a velvet painting

ok if they insist

getting on with doings

 

even if it’s for naught

even if it’s in vain

for just being caught by vesuvius

with your fingers in your pants

 

we’re built f...

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Best Intentions

When we held it

We really felt it

 

You let me keep it

Then wanted to see it

 

I let you break it

Does that make me negligent?

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Goddess of Irony

the goddess of irony 

drowns the city with her laughter

 

then she offers assistance

after every disaster

 

you tell her you're leaving

she says, "not so soon."

 

she's busy using your heart

to clean up her room

 

you swear you'll miss her 

this she doesn't believe

 

you hide those pictures of her sister 

in the folder on your screen

 

everyone...

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Courage Perfume

the heart wants

what the heart wants

screams your inner child in a mall

in a world of desires you’re lost

 

this restlessness which you

mistake for ambition

this discomfort

defines your position

 

pushing you into areas

you don’t recognize

changing you in ways

you’ve always desired

 

there must be something here for you

that you can’t live without

...

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