coat of ghosts

i move about
a skeleton
in a coat of ghosts
beneath an old blue place
people stop to say hello
even offer hugs
i smile & sometimes even
a laugh comes out
they don’t know
i’m 3 parts ghost
it’s all a show
b/c everyone who really
made me smile
is gone
they’re ghosts i wear
around me
like a cloak
& when i’m in my room alone
all i do is i cry
listening to songs
that make me remember
all i’ve lost
a skeleton w/ tear ducts
from when i was alive
& today they pass me & smile
they don’t know
my grin is a frown in disguise
even when we shake hands
they don’t notice my grip
is all bone
cuffs of ghosts at my wrists
i’m just a skeleton
in a coat of ghosts
moving about
beneath an old blue place

————————————————

suspended in the night

i woke in the wee
hours of the night
my arm numb
from sleeping on it
& i thought how
we bring things
into existence
w/ our reins of vessels
& circling blood
& slim branches
of nerves, etc…
& while my arm
slowly came
back to life
i lay there in silence
straddling both worlds
the unscrambled one
& one of total nothingness
the latter, of course
my better acquaintance

———————————————-

a visitation

i met my mother the day
after her father suddenly
died in the street
8 years before i was born
she was in the laundrymat
across the street
from our old apartment
in brooklyn
asking herself out loud
how dare the dryers spin?
the machines turn?
don’t they know that
my father’s gone?
& i was there next to her
folding my clothes
on a long white table
twice her age
i gave her my condolences
i told her my mother died
on a sunny day in june
while the baseball game played
loud on the hospital tv
while i was there in the room
& i asked the sun
to stop what it was doing
just for a moment
but it kept on shining
she stared at me as if she
knew something
said she was sorry & thank you
& then looked away
watching the towels lift & drop
in the little round window
& i picked up my basket
& walked out into the blaze
of my dream