boys lie
they tell you anything they want
to get you into
a language of their own
consisting entirely of
nouns
what was it I wanted
to remember this morning
that I've now forgotten
listen:
how did I happen to end up
looking like Anthony Hopkins
spending the day
concerned about knowing
knowledge & understanding
being in new ways
new concerns
fresher more alert reasonings
tickled by a cat hair
spinning a gold ring
on my finger
inexperienced in the ways
of making things happen and
forgetting my lines
contemplating the order of need:
pencil paper rock
scissors cat window rhubarb
understudy telephone soup
Korean BBQ dark stuff in your past
I don't know something subtle
you know I'm able to read &
comprehend I'm learning that
you must imagine an expansion to
this language; these, this; the
pointing gesture --
cleaning his ears with a Ticonderoga 2
a new feeling today:
being in the past just like it is
now, that sort of backward experience
or believing you're telling me the
truth only when you lie to me
or being close to "the family"
because you're somehow in command
of position & fear the experience of
feeling because you'll be sunburned
countless elucidations shine
shine like the star you are --
you're Romeo not Hamlet with questions
-- Jeff Wietor
