I.

Your promises
are like interludes
performed at the bottom of a swimming pool

one act shams
air trapped in a parenthesis
a raft never meant for floating
or never meant for much of anything

illusion of essence
hot air balloons tied to a barbed wire fence

driving on flats
in circular motions
up and down counterfeit words
a pause before the big bang

I thought we were going places.

II.

Where were you the night of november 23rd
your intermission was eternal
I waited
and the joke was on me.

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.
- Charles Dudley Warner

Adieu friends - I’m off to enjoy some good weather.  Send me some ridiculous forwards while I’m gone, won’t you?  I will need some material to return to.  Spam mail, friendship forwards, television surveys for individuals that don’t own a television, anything that requires speakers to my work email address.  That would be nice.  

Jumping up walls to touch invisible threads
through the top of the slammer
some kind of temporary heaven
pale blue codeine or a baseball bat to the skull
I’ve got to reach high enough for everyone but my own
taste the sky and slide the ladder to the bathtub
pull your weight onto the deck
the captain will greet you with a bucket of ice cubes
and you will lay with your stomach to the stars
pondering the tile
grateful for nothing

Her baby wonderin why you her call at night
Her baby wonderin when the mortgage gonna get paid
Why he aint got any lovin in a long time
Why she aint got no female friends

You stole glances from him and his baby
Her baby wonderin how he didn’t know
The house fell down; he’s still doing the dishes
She left the building three months ago

Her baby wonderin what she got in the basement
Her baby wonderin when you stole his crown
Her baby likes country with a side of pathetic
Her baby wonderin if he made a mistake

Her baby don’t know about the words in-between you
Her baby don’t speak about the kiss that you shared
Her baby found pictures from the first night you met her
He don’t recognize the arms in his chair

His baby likes wearin his pants in the summer
His baby likes mystery more than her man
His baby got matches and no one to strike
His baby wonderin if she made a mistake

His baby likes to take the wheel to one side
His baby wrote your name on the contract
He got her memory and you got the change
She’s got both babies bound to the shame.