1. i never wanted to resign to the machine
of perpetual motion
this pen as if it was a thousand years
old rips my paper
2. there is a luxury to watching someone breathe in silence
with her chest she reminds me
each day is a cycle of birthing and dying
everyone in this room
with a locomotive brain
will admit to themselves privately that they are almost entirely disconnected from their bodies
3. a subway ghost beautifully unkempt reminds me that of you
i only have the eyelash memory
and yes the words, sometimes the words
of a city-body looking for reason
4. this city full of ‘polvo enamorado’, my hands
elementary looking
smell like the duration of the day
of metals touched by a hundred new humans
kisses reputed to choreography
and still the body moves like the wind moves
5. a patient penny counting profit (prophet) on the corner
counting referees of the real world
i do not know how to depart you
without departing time
6. hay un pajarito soñando, one that sounds like it doesn’t belong
(just like me)
a turibus passes and echoes
last night a poet who wants to renounce poetry read her poems for me
because she said my photographs remind her of her poems, mostly the landscapes
that they reminded her of being in love in this city
i told her i was giving up photography for poetry and we laughed
7. the voice of every day reminds me that i cannot fake a voice
no matter how many sirens send me to sleep
or weather deviations drive me to a new naming of things, leaving traces for the next time
to make you think you’ll know what to do better
no matter how many sun bombs startle the steps
and send sparkling additions at the moon off season
they shake me and then again
i am better at yielding every lesion
8. i hate the new subway cars
someone smiles at me and waves as i enter
then proceeds to spit into a puddle beneath them
a work of art
a protest, i think
i wave back
9. delete forever?
it says in my spam folder
i no longer know what the words mean
or is it just that i don’t believe either
10. a taxi man told me about the rotten apple in reverse
and so maybe it’s time to go
he spoke to me about his heart and said
“i’m here, go inside, i wait for you”
and as i entered my house we waved goodbye
there are still crickets crying outside my window
and the burning star is almost at rest
and so on second thought i will stay
