Thin

 
 
 

Prodigal Son
 
spreading life thin with wine
 
women and song

Tenderloin

 
 
 

Tenderloin District
 
Live Nude Girls on the marquee
 
in the alley too

Returned

 
 
 

all his love letters
 
written from Machu Picchu
 
returned to sender

Oddfellows

 
 
 

a handful of words
 
to sing of host and vector—
 
the oddfellows lodge

God

 
 
 

God crouches each night
 
in a corner of my room,
 
then springs up to dance.

Circles

 
 
 

In vanishing ink
 
she sketches circles of light,
 
while Samson goes blind.

Pie

 
 
 

banana cream pie
 
winking from the diner shelf
 
just to torment me

Evenings

 
 
 

waiting for Godot
 
even though he never comes—
 
these futile evenings

Faraway

 
 
 

kneeling man
 
a faraway port
 
calls to you

Panhandlers

 
 
 

Why do panhandlers
 
keep muttering life’s secrets
 
up and down the streets?