April 20th - Midwestern Sensibilities

 Four of Spades - Midwestern Sensibilities

 

My boss smiles at me

Over zoom

He plays classical music

In the background

- A calculated decision-

Intentionally shelved books

Create straight lines behind him

Tuning in from some

Chicago suburb (affluent)

Even though his eyes say

Otherwise

He smiles

April 19th - Instagram Poets

 Red Joker - Instagram Poets

 

 

$15.99

words

have

power

to sell you on anything

even if that something

could be cynical or earnest

but either way is

just as empty

as the space used to cover

your lack

of substance

 

just words

on their own

mean nothing

lost

broken

reborn

free

 

two-day shipping 

on amazon prime

 

 

 

-

But also

Buy my book, maybe

When it comes out -

If and when

April 18th - Ladybugs

Queen of Clubs - Ladybugs

 

No need for something today as this movie is already poetry:

 

 

 

Just kidding - it's the worst!

 

-

 

Swarm

One:

Good luck in

Tickles from tiny tarsi

Happy little dappled body

Stays awhile

Red and round, it opens

Then away

 

 

Many:

Get out

Save yourselves

 

 

 

 

April 17th - Million Dollar Apple Store Plate Glass Windows

Three of Diamonds - Million Dollar Apple Store Plate Glass Windows

 

When your house is made of glass

One crack is all

It takes for everything

To crumble 

 

But you

Can start anew!

For a price

 

The same price that

Would lift thirty-three

People out of poverty

The same price

As a window

 

April 16th - Small Dogs in Baby Carriages

 Five of Hearts - Small Dogs in Baby Carriages

 

Cleo, in Pram

At twenty-one months she's already world famous

Her beauty and glamour completely entrain us

    like the Infanta she sits

    but she's only a Spitz

And her bassinet smells like an anus

 

April 15th - Large Dogs in IKEA Bags

Five of Spades - Large Dogs in IKEA Bags

By cutting holes for leg and paw
You technically uphold the law

 

 

 

April 14th - Closing Costs

 Four of Diamonds - Closing Costs

This project got waylaid by travel prep. but it is up and running again. Prepare for a deluge of content!

 

 

Closing Costs

A stack of paperwork
Read for the seventh time
To understand an empty phrase
To isolate some line item
Squinting, sighing
Calculating

-

I once pored through prose
Both paramount and purple
Fingers raw from hours
Turning pages
Shakingly elated
Twisting grimaced
Gasping for air

Then out into the night!
Where I would make vows to the sky
Where I would drink up the stars
And swallow the moon
 

April 13th - Human Capital

Jack of Diamonds - Human Capital 

Wares

My father was "Humanware"

When he worked at Morgan Stanley

Proofreading documents

Catching bankers' errors

But there was no mistake 

In the memo that coined that phrase

April 12th - Misercordia

 Ace of Clubs - Misercordia 

Or Mercy

A blade between

The ribs of an enemy

Felled by your own

Profane hand

April 11th - The Iron Age

April 11th -

The Iron Age

Thanks to all the smiths and smelts

To callused blackened hands

To fierce charcoal embers

I have another choice

Than to die

By bronze sword