Chinglish Clumsy Love Poem

Duimian de taitai kan guo lai,

zai taiyang de xiamian. Women

zai tiaoqu when the moon

rises, zai tiaowu when dew beads

on our cheeks and in our eyes

because woman tiaowu le, we

have lived another night

together

bone and sinew

it is very very hard to bleed upon a page because you
must be willing to apply the knife to your own skin
with the right amount of force a pressing which neither
gores nor scratches but slices clean through so anyone
who desires to peek can see just what is in there clear as
bone and cut as sinew and then truth has to ooze up in these
patterned little drops to represent what made you write this
truth in the first place a truth that whirs through you
as you lie in your own skin on your bed in the cool of darkness
and reconcile the world to the rhythm of your beating beating
heart

Balance

perches atop a fulcrum

in skin-tight leather which may or

may not shield it from the

reckless rocks of the road

and seeks only not to fall off

the Harley

Rotisserie Chicken with Roasted Vegetables: A Rearrangement

Preheat the
oven to
400 degrees.
Remove the woody
ends of the
asparagus by gently
bending each stalk until it
breaks (it will naturally)
snap off at the
right spot.

In a baking dish, toss
the vegetables
with the
olive oil and
season with salt
and pepper.

Roast for twelve to fifteen minutes,
until the vegetables have a
light
brown
crust.

Serve ----------------------- Reserve the
half ----------------------- other half
the vegetables --------------- for
with the chicken and a -------- later
simple mixed- -------------- in
greens salad tossed with ------ the
oil olive & vinegar ------------ week

Nausea

staggers sideways through the doorway

oblivious to the black ties and table placards

and hurls on the maitre' d

Imperfection

totters into the picture

with olive slacks pulled to the sternum

and tufts of hair sprouting from its ears

Balances: What I've Learned From Tim Rich

with each breath
Tim is always
balancing

as we juggle our spouse
against our daughter(s)

or one set of tasks
against another
(only to fill our balance sheet)

eight ounces of water
to a single scoop of truth

or rearrange the couches
so granola heads can hold hands

and recently I've been thinking
whether he's trying to show me something

'cause my wife and I used to hang all night
and pursue the dawn together

and now I started
(as a reaction to what I've seen)
to move toward
the pleasure of such messiness
against the sting
of being alone

-- with apologies to "Balances" by Nikki Giovanni

Sorrow

shuffles into the bus station

wearing hand-me-down jeans

and takes a bench as a pillow