OUT WEST

There is a peepshow

at the center

of every grapefruit

and I’ll take that comfort

on nights like these

I pour the sugar

to loosen me

I’d let a spider inside,

I’d prickle

and beat the stars flat

to be reborn

as the water in a cactus

to be boiled uncovered

The physics of aliveness

are unempirical

The motions of belonging

(sucking sound)

My forked tongue

in a lilac                         dark

It(s) part(s) scintillate

when spoken

There are so many synonyms

for words, I could cry

and any of them could mean

sock static

       woman’s needs

   erotics

a lone armadillo

crossing a road