Paint

Most mornings,

I awake and scratch and 

stretch, slink down 

to the garage where

there are gallons wait for me

my rusty funnel and the radio

which plays morning edition 

I pick a color that 

feels like today 

August is Salmon

October is Burnt Ember 

December is Evergreen

But it's July, so emerald 

and I slept pretty good 

so maybe a little extra - 

I tilt my head back and 

lift the gallon with my curled arm 

and shove the funnel deep past 

my larynx, I don't even swallow anymore 

just pour - the tears trickle into my ears 

and that green glugs past my gums 

a little coffee and some toast and 

I'm in my car, off to work, as the sun 

floats below the horizon 

every few moments, I roll down 

my window and 

cover the sidewalk in latex shimmering 

green, in splashes and spurts 

on the street, on the cars beside, on

the feet of those passing by, 

I shower them all with color 

My superpower is pushing it all out 

and decorating the streets with paint, 

the graffiti from my insides plastered 

for miles, like a dragon of art 

throwing green flames - 

keeping my toast down. 

Cantaloupe

 you say you 

haven't felt this 

pressing against your 

insides in years

unsheathed

a boy so

little against

his mother 

I need the taste 

I need the smell 

of your breast 

of your breath 

that I haven't felt 

for a generation, why 

you say at 

the foot of the bed 

weighted blankets 

and weighted bodies 

broken by a boy, why

discarded 

into what sounds of 

canyons 

when I say 

let's remember the 

pain is starting - why 

are you broken why did

we lay for years 

without touching 

am I enough of a father 

for you to feed my son

am I enough of a son

for you to leave my father

oh mother/wife, why aren't

you like here, with breasts so

available and why have you 

given him everything

everything about your body 

must I find a new vessel to 

consume and inhabit

before another son

bleeds her dry 

my mother calls 

when we sleep, calls 

upon her little boy 

she trained me to 

drain her and you

to drain them all

and ask for more.