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