Birthdays Plus Christmases

Birthdays plus Christmases

Times twenty and too-many years

Times how many relations?

Equals more gifts than I can

Remember for-getting.

How many of my things

Shoved into corners–

Other people's thoughts uncounted,

Fallen by the wayside?

First Kiss

I think I knew, even then,

That you meant nothing by it,

That you meant nothing,

That your enthusiasm was half-genuine,

and all for the game.

Nevertheless, all my fantasies still form

In the shape of your lips.

Someone

You said you need someone who's kind of a nerd.

Message heard.

You seem to want to be with someone fun.

Could be done.

I know you're looking for someone old-fashioned.

I'll raise my hand.

My problem is that you demand someone good,

and I can't change the past of my present.

But I wish I could.

Appearances

We all give so much power to the patterns in our eyes.

Use just one of your senses and it's sure to tell you lies.

Yours could be destructive; you look just like an ex,

Or maybe disappointing; you look like a student, one of my best,

But I'm not just gonna assume you'll confound me,

Nor am I gonna demand you astound me.

I suppose it's still possible that appearances will deceive me,

But I won't make it easy.

He Loves Me/He Loves Me Not

She's pulled the petals off of every flower

That anyone ever gave her,

To find out how men felt about her,

So I gave her two dozen.

I still don't know how this game will end,

But at least it will last a while.

An Incomplete List of Incomplete Lists

An incomplete list of things that I am:

Writing,

A writer,

A fifth-rate poet,

Pretending to be a fourth-rate poet,

On my way to becoming a teacher,

On my way to becoming repetitive,

On my way past remotely funny,

At a world-record rate of speed.

An incomplete list of things I am not:

Ready for bed,

Ready for this,

Ready to quit,

Waiting for you,

Waiting for Godot,

Waiting on somebody already,

Waiting in the lobby,

A patient in the lobby,

Patient,

Alright,

Sane,

Done.

About Amanda

The thing you need to understand about Amanda...

Okay, I won't lie to you. There is no understanding her.

The thing you need to keep in mind about Amanda

Is that she was once as normal as you and...other normal people.

Then one day, she just woke up and said “I wanna be interesting.”

The implications are astounding.

The thing you need to know about Amanda

Is that most of us are built to be workers and husbands and mothers.

In a race of conveyor-belt people, Amanda would be an eagle.

She soared so high that she made herself invisible–

The one true kind of beautiful.

The thing you need to remember about Amanda

Is that no matter how long she's been gone,

There are some of us who will never forget her.