Special K
my nickname in grade school from a boy who
played basketball while I sat on the bench,
rolled up my socks, my sweatband.
Made sense: Kieron was weird-in-the-mouth, like a mouth guard.
Wildly specific: the autistic + skinny-fat kid.
Boys are nothing but clever
in their cruelty.
I saw him today, the boy, now a man,
working the register at Payless.
Was their “going-out-of-business” sale.
Do they still call you Special K?
His tone asking: do you finally get it?
I took my sneakers, my new basketball shoes.
No. No one ever called me that, except you.
Don’t Forget
that while you stress + sweat
over deadlines + your writing,
your overbite + poor eyesight,
the Toyota + its upkeep,
the way others look at you + you
wonder if it’s pity or irritation,
revulsion or raw-sugar love, the
bees
are doing just fine—
the workers forage the field to
bejewel
their black socks in clover
pollen, + the queen
bedazzles
other drones back
home to the
beehive
after her maiden flight
+
beguiling
flush of pheromones—from there,
spring through autumn, the
bees
in their white box pulse
louder than sirens, louder
than bells, a
behemoth
of bodies + wings + mouths
grooming the queen,
saliva-sewing curtains of
bee-comb,
their kind
becoming
more of a
bewildering
number, for that is their
nature, their
behavior,
+ all of it was done
without a single thought
or care of you.
Jacob’s Cave
Versailles, Missouri
No one [really] cares for the cave—
[rock ribcage | bat shrine | the theater-glare of tour guides
from floodlights close to campfire-ghost-stories]
We want the swap meet up the road, the sales, the mile [+ more] of booths—
[barbie dolls | rollerblades | sunglasses | DVDs
of Bruce Willis movies | a tennis racket |
an empty gas can | wind chimes | tighty-whities |
jars of salsa from the Mennonites |
char-black skillets | a Crown Royale pouch
of pyrite]
We could buy + sell anything, really—
But [really] the only table we barrel for is the one bone-piled with guns—
rifles + pistols +
revolvers + shotguns +
38 specials + assaults +
semi-automatics +
flintlocks +
muskets—
all of which do not include a box of bullets
or any paperwork