My daddies have voices
like bachelors, like castigators & crooners.
They have busted kneecaps.
They stand behind my mother
in the kitchen pretending to count the hairs
on her neck. One of my daddies
was a carpenter. One lost his tooth
in a fistfight with Jesus. One went to prison.
No, two went to prison. One daddy sits beside me
telling jokes dull as mouthwash.
One can guess how many catfish swim
in every pond. Here is my scar
from a summer working in the glass factory
across from another daddy’s home.
My daddy with the pretty gold-tooth smile taps
my shoulder & says, “Look at the booty
on that gal.” My daddy, Mr. Blacker-than-most,
wears shades in the house. He says
“Nobody’s blacker than me, Boy.”
Each of my daddies asks, “Are you writing
another poem about me?” They covet secrets.
No, my daddies covet work above secrets.
We are watching an action movie now,
my daddies & me. There are guns & damsels
& camouflage. There are car wrecks
& cusswords & blood. But my daddies are tired.
Some of them sprawl on the carpet.
Some of them go upstairs to the bedrooms,
or through the front door to the porch.
My daddies fall asleep in all the rooms
inside & outside the house. I want to sleep too,
but their snores make the wind chimes tremble.

HIP LOGIC

HIP LOGIC

Some shoot the soft bloodless
heads of basketballs. Shoes filled
with darkness. Skulls & dragons
stitched into biceps.
No standing still.
Some cruise with detachable faces
on their radios. The grief latent
in speed limits & zip codes.
The evening between evenings.
Stalls with locked doors.
Some leave their car windows
cracked & a boomboomboom
rustles the neighborhood.
No standing still. The law says
no stone will go uncrushed.
It won’t make the news.
Some will be set free for lack
of evidence or imprisoned
despite it. Trying to catch
the soul here? Like trying
to slow light down to a trot.
Some dress in women’s arms.
Perpetually groomed & grooming.
Hips are the cradle of logic.
Sperm hop in the trenches
blessed with an ageless memory.

SONNET

SONNET

We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.
We sliced the watermelon into smiles.

M R . T—

M R . T—