Two Poems from Village

natasha is going to kill boris

caterpillars & grief :: the screech of some forty girls masking the seer’s

anguish :: future masquerades toward the La Marqueta on Park Ave.

on thin webs, the larva break, free fall :: minor safety inside a training

bra or sweat-weathered feathered mushrooms to accidently pupate

welp :: the squeals of puberty lend to their massacre :: splat ::

aquamarine protein erupts out negro red fuzz :: ectoplasm

:: a boy’s savagery plays out on the bottom of his k-swiss :: hulk smash

they transfer that massacre

to the streets of Harlem :: split

—crack skull :: rip :: puny gods

these rites make right boys to men some safer passage :: suffer

the black common law widows

digress :: journey to the bottom

of Bear Mountain Park’s tidal pool :: between wormholes

a girl is dancing w/ her eyes closed beneath mechanical surf

which way is up :: distancing downward :: is there any ooze

that might ignite another reactionary freeze?

cybernetic tidal waves are criminal

the arms untrained

paddle in wrong directions

a hand reaches out :: fumbles to grab

pulls her up :: & out

“sun’s getting real low, sun’s going down.”

never again :: if ever a man did

where is the bastard hatchling’s sargassum

inventor of the penis pants

this drinking partner :: this drinking buddy :: her buddy :: his chum

her nutter butter :: he crave you like you Little Debbie :: a good nut

buddies keen on tickling the thighs ::

but not green teats.

ride the 2 to the Bronx :: family outings :: weekends :: 176th

a footbridge over highway

arrival to his & her home :: the live-in buddy

is sloppy :: is stunted :: is never lucid :: is little difference

to ma duke :: enabler eager on liquor

a common flux of food stamps a liquor store will trade for

& weekly we arrive.

call him uncle :: as all good buddies are uncles & aunties

call him Bill :: when she ascertains Eldridge :: or is it the other way

around :: flip pages :: what smears too much this uncle favors

books needing to cancel

this Eldridge she read up on :: but this Eldridge favors Bill :: buddy’s

partner’s bottom lip drools like the parent’s bottom lip drools :: snore

adhere to dust mites :: a composite sketch is drawn of the jockey cup

or the Fruit of Loom briefs :: always that one who played the grapes

redrawn :: about the relief in his eyes :: flare of the snout

restaged :: attempting  :: i am :: refinishing this furniture :: alter the face

sake of not revoking my race card :: she thought whiteness

:: flashes flicker

she see cotton

crop :: this would be a loving image :: a mother sleeping

w/ her two daughters. :: above a headboard :: distorted by a picture

of Christ :: on top a tartan couch. :: window veering the Western sunset

uncorrected :: a bed & sheets itchy to which a buddy snuggles in

a finger inside what is nine or ten

a maneuver he perfects

each outing :: to reach over gut swollen from porkchop & fibroid

to not disturb what’s straight disturbing :: window guards do not protect

instead entrap & corral

the revolutionary becomes a Mormon :: the said uncle fondles

swaps baby for mommy :: flinch free :: freed from a fig leaf ::

unbound :: unstrapped

on the 2 back home :: between train cars :: a mother

vomits her liver :: window guard three stops behind them  ::

that sensation stirring :: stirring :: what is she feeling

is long fin

doe

oh dear

the buddy fingers’ slick shimmer

of juice :: two peas in the pod

the fault of DNA across waters

& colonies

NYCHA or rent control :: courtyards & window guards

a flash :: is not our fault :: you think us THOTS

she reaches for a twelve pack of Nutty Buddy at Target

the book closes :: see

the problem w/ including photos