Author Archives: Zak

all of your friends are
balloons, bright
thin skin stretched
tight over emptiness.

able to rub
vigorously
the scalp.
in public.
able to wind
the hair into
a thick rope.
able to hang
it over a shoulder.

human voice human
hands. hammers
strike strings. small
round black vessel for
sound. your mind

here we have
fresh avocados the whole
year round.
there are no seasons.

your road is so
rough you can’t help but
feel to blame. sorry,
you say you say
sorry. excuse me, you
say, sorry.

you sit yourself
down heavy like
hope. a cushion
to soften you.
there is no need
to associate these trees
with the bodies.

not for
exercise, but
for reverence.

a preference for
observation, not
participation;

in the morning
at the cafe,
with the retirees.
in the afternoon
at the theater,
with the empty seats.

if you’ve never
known this
suffocation, it
cannot be
explained to
you, you
cannot understand
it.

outside in the freeze
a glass pod
attached to
a mechanical arm
sprays a slurry of
juiced sugar beets,
leftover cheese brine,
and calcium chloride
onto the waiting wings of the airplane.

every use
the wrong use.
sometimes use
as whip.

i sat in
mediation
for twenty five years
and for
twenty five years
i suffered.

walking up
stairs, so, does any
one need any
thing? empty
windows surround
you. spaces
for panes; ghostly.

throw the stuff in the bag.
clothes.
jars and bags
of food.
containers of food.
pack up the bags.
take them from
and to.

i have made it in
ways that others will
not, cannot, do
not. others
make it in ways
that are not for me.

they feel
like vacancies. or
blank sheets of paper.

piercings and markings.
wrapped around
in chains.
embellishments
to say, “not agreeable”.

forgotten stone
fence all in
a ribbon along
a tattered road.

coffee
in the morning.

no second guessing
the caffeine.

there are small birds
in the tangle of
bare bushes.
they flit in
the orange light
of pre-Winter.

the medication makes you
sick. the walk from
your home is wooden,
sodden. the barista
laughs with the cook.

the caffeine causes
panic so the coffee
is stripped of it.

there are six colors
to choose from.
any combination
of the six can be
used. several
in a row all pick
the same colors,
in the same combinations;

a wool coat
and a coffee.

we do what
we like.