Instructions For Living Like Tofu

be like whoever’s nearby
softening in a saute pan 
coagulating soy milk
dying to be buffaloed

jerked    spiced    riced
burrito bowled    baked
into chocolate cream pie

ubiquitousness is nothing

terrible since marinades
drown your pores with tang
plump you like tiny teriyaki
pillows of misshapen mush

cherished only by sleepers

like you who surrender
give up resisting the chef
with his spinning knives

reeling overhead whistling
a Sinatra song as he carves
you into uniform squares
till “My Way’s” last big note 


 
Birthday Candle Remix                                      

~for Jillian


I carried you
into the world
my flame lily
Bore your candle
deep in my dim
delivered you tender 
fire bouquet in bleak
November dusk 

That gift was all I had

You carried me
into the world
my flame lily
Spiced my fading
like a saffron suncatcher  
curled about my empty
trellis climbing in bright
November dusk 

That gift was all you had

We carry us
in this world
my flame lily
We carpet cold winds
scarlet the gray velvet
bloom as we must  
resplendent in bold
November dusk   

Our nothings left light everything



My Classroom Needs a Baggage Claim  

You scurry to check-in
stack luggage 
between us 
tall leathery walls,
cumbersome trunks,
questions bulging 
out the sides. 

We strap down our pasts with bungees 
so nothing delicate unfolds.  

We hand over our devices,
but what can airport x-rays see?
		
Do 		you 		know 		me? 


Because I don’t    

know you yet. 

Give me your heaviest
bag, the one that cost 
extra, wrenched your back
as you bore it 
through dark tunnels
to reach the gate. 
 
There’s just us now, 
dying to go faraway 
places together 
find space to rest

our heads in flight.



Portrait of My Son as Kanye’s Vision

he lets Marvin, Ray, & Otis
spin gold under his stylus

alchemy’s his power &
samples rise like prayers

artist wearing canvas
lyrics sing our scene

so many lionize him
mama’s still his queen