Columbus, OH to Crossville, TN via U-Haul

She antagonized his lethargic manhood
I wouldn’t call it brave
truly last ditch
He was not awake enough
to take the air out of a room
so when he left
no more tippy toe
is what I noticed.
It wasn’t slow.
Dad’s not home,
smelling leather, lipstick,
& smoke.
misses
her rusty laugh,
a donkey/Buddha hybrid,
brawling
the murmurous sludge
of her new man's night cap voice,
followed by a U-Haul.
and a Chinese restaurant
that served
biscuits & gravy

moving day

Lena, across the street
on her porch step clutching
her robe closed against the afternoon sun,
ashtrays neat with
stacked half-smoked Kents.
In her bedroom
a real live slot machine
would spray nickles but you never won.
Lena’s buoyancy declined
absent my mom floating
her tab
at the China Inn

To Kim I pretend not to wave
who couldn't give a shit
who spit and kissed and
let me ride her dirt bike exactly once

(hey fat-ass. go help your mother pack.
Name’s not fat-ass, Booby.)

Nu-Dad Bobby black & white,
western arrow piping.
Bobby black mustache,
ring finger missing,
like Aunt Belinda and
her little 280 z,
burnt orange dot fading
in the pale horizon.
Bobby blackish blue bird breast oil chest hair
showed teeth on stage
with Marty Robbins
out in the west Texas town of El Paso,
where we never saw Belinda again.

Help me, Operator

who was it you said you were trying to reach?
maximum strength delusional hack,
zero stamina poseur.
puttering dilettante.
status quo
co-
dependent
nail biter, nose picker
chronic masturbator.
unable to superintend, driven
to tears every
post-apo
plectic
aberrance.
surfing some corn chip/old spice cloud
har
binge
ing
his
agenda wielding
overplanning
micromanaging
nitpicked debarkation,
you say.
perfectionist.
and I say,
Fack Yu.
you got the wrong number.

Who are the people in your neighborhood

carrying a hammer

wearing spaghetti straps

sparse field of hair

green short-shorts,

dry lips,

grains, kale in teeth,

cannot make eye contact.

tall and crooked

splotchy red chest,

canine obsequity

hand-chopping the air

eyes rimmed like rib-eyes

waistline punishing

waistband

shirt stain profile described as robust

legs too heavy to bother,

lifting.

laughing at everything she says

smells like bubblegum,

fingerprints, bruises

shoulders

secret smile,

like two people put together with cardboard and glue,

crumpled,

freshly skiffled manuscript

sheets on a bunk bed in a cabin

incessant-waves-of-doubt-

crushed-garlic-breath

clouds

race across the moon,

but in the mirror

behind locked doors

no compromise.

talked like a locomotive sailor

but cold, soft, unlined hands.

looked bad in jeans.

carrying a hammer

wearing spaghetti straps

sparse field of hair

green short-shorts,

dry lips,

grains, kale in teeth,

cannot make eye contact.

tall and crooked

splotchy red chest,

canine obsequity

hand-chopping the air

eyes rimmed like rib-eyes

waistline punishing

waistband

shirt stain profile described as robust

legs too heavy to bother,

lifting.

laughing at everything she says

smells like bubblegum,

fingerprints, bruises

shoulders

secret smile,

like two people put together with cardboard and glue,

crumpled,

freshly skiffled manuscript

sheets on a bunk bed in a cabin

incessant-waves-of-doubt-

crushed-garlic-breath

clouds

race across the moon,

but in the mirror

behind locked doors

no compromise.

talked like a locomotive sailor

but cold, soft, unlined hands.

looked bad in jeans.