poetry dump (pieces from 2018/2019)

Pony Express

Every letter he mailed to her from Chicago to South Carolina had the scent of a million towns and parishes; places his words passed through but where he would never visit. A smudged fingerprint had been engrained into the bottom left corner, possibly a hint of lavender from the southern shores of Virginia. By the time his notes reached her there would be aromatic anarchy — something that would surely overwhelm a woman of more delicate tendencies, but Jessie brought the envelop to the tip of her red dust tinged nose. She knew who it was from before even reading the return address. The intoxicating mix of his musk and workers cologne had embedded itself deep into the fibers of the rough paper. She held it in her hands, as gentle as if she were holding God herself. Her fingertips traced the imprint of his name. Henry.

Roti and Doubles

I could’ve sworn the sun was shining this morning

it filled up my bedroom

and danced across my bed

it lit up my windowsills

and gave life to green things

but then around 1:00 I began to feel bound

and the clouds crept in

and the sky grew gray with the memories of

last days

and good byes

and emancipated souls

Aquarius Man

sometimes I let my mind wander

let it create realities and tell myself

what it would be like if

you’d never lost a battle

nor rode a pyre into the sunset

on a cold February night.

but then I remind myself

life isn’t the blank page they tell you it is

and sometimes memories don’t have color

and their scents die away

and then I forget the ash staining my funeral dress.

breeze

I have a longing for the scent of sun warming earth

for stillness and songbirds

for mellow, mellow beats

for brown skin and white palms to bask in solar comfort

for echos from the chambers of precious memories

for waves

for wings

I long

for guitar cries

for unity

for flair

for fairs

for long legs kissed my lips or breezes

I long for the bright orange I see when I close my eyes and bask in the suns glorious glow

for deep breaths and expanding rib cages