Gutter Shine Days
<< The word ekphrasis, or ecphrasis, comes from the Greek for the written description of a work of art produced as a rhetorical or literary exercise, often used in the adjectival form ekphrastic. It is a vivid, often dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art, either real or imagined. Thus, “an ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art.” In ancient times, it might refer more broadly to a description of any thing, person, or experience. The word comes from the Greek ἐκ ek and φράσις phrásis, ‘out’ and ‘speak’ respectively, and the verb ἐκφράζειν ekphrázein, ‘to proclaim or call an inanimate object by name.’ >>
America I hate you
But I love what you have to give
The blood, white, and blues again
I find your soft underbelly when
I stop glaring at the bristles and think to myself how
“To pray without ceasing” when
“Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”
Ma dukes, round two with the cancer – winning
Your dad seems like he’s always looking for the remote
Whether the TV is on or not, to news or sometimes sports
Your skin is blotchy like the wallpaper from malnutrition
Day old McChickens
I take a hit and
My lips touch the water of your water cooler grav bong
I run for the toilet to spit but the porcelain is shattered from a fist fight got out of hand
But you are generous
We take turns living in your basement
Even if you had nothing, you would still be generous
Ryan’s last day in this world
The morning before we watched Lodge Kerrigan’s “Clean, Shaven” twice
awestruck, total Stendhal’s Syndrome
When we got home your body was gone replaced by rubber gloves left on the floor
Dawn wails in through the windows of Hope Street
As the Fishtown rooster’s body winces in the wind
Autumn comes
In the front seat of her grandfather’s station wagon
We scale fences to avoid the police
Creepy crawling like Leslies in the bush
Laughing firecrackers
You taught me everything I know
And when we pretended to be siblings
I actually believed it
You are a mother now
And an a excellent one at that
I couldn’t be prouder of the world you are
Lost bars
scattered pack
suede smell and mudmask laughter
you reflected in a cop car’s window with your face-paint
and Chinese nickname
Pictureplane July
An immediate spark between friends
a blackout, then wet hands rolling
like San Francisco hills
the granite man gave us two shards and a rock
I gave the shards back
Pan-Pacific crack rock
“Bad Faith” scratched into your ribcage, inky but inkless
You pole dance on street signs until
A rat gets hit by a taxi and we laugh like hyenas
For the flash, for the flesh
as we play with open bodies
Man I have loved
since my body was genderless
Man I have loved
in shared survival
In teen suicide, averted
We share ink, we share blood
I pray for you
I pray about you
You are loved
Well below
Zero
The chill so strong the streets are empty
We can scream as loud as we like
and we do (gently)