Venice, Italy

cracks

the birds kept circling the stoplights

as i drove home

i watched their tireless efforts in my rear view mirror

you smiled like nothing is always wrong

even though we’re every time finding something empty

you are the same as you were the day i met you

today i saw what it meant to be alive

but nothing changed within

no explosions

not a drop of bright climbed into my eyes

“Sir, we still can’t find any light!”

and still nothing shines

my hands remember

i am only one person --

just stop right there

remove my gloves to touch your face:

it still resonates in my mind

and my hands remember

the way last Christmas and the one before that

felt and is still feeling

you are only one person --

it’s happened to you too

Barcelona, Spain

we carry no crutches

crookedly crawling away
a nameless generation
who once danced through starbeams
now aching in encased cold
numbed into believing we are warm
we are doing just fine
guiltless of your crimes at least
our hands dripless with blood at least

abandonment gave birth to us
and we spun our protection out of the scraps we could find
we didn’t know what to look for
we didn’t know we couldn’t see
you smiled as we fumbled — our eyes glazed with loss
you watched as we cried and screamed to silence
and never received any reply
so we spoke among ourselves
and glued our broken spines into shapes that almost stood upright

did you hear that?
no, it was only the wind
it will not speak to us
the time for pretending has long since passed

Geneva, Switzerland