Even If It Lasts for Hours

I visited the museum
it was my favorite place
everything in it was beautiful
it was the same year that a memorable event took place
but nobody was sure where
each city was emptied and in an instant full again
I saw the rolling children
and remember thinking
time to be afraid
a cat made an offering to the longest house in the world
I couldn't stop saying I don't know how
because a cat's body is unusual
but it's a different time now
there is a number for the museum
I go there and watch it from the outside
where through the skinny windows
I can see a set of cheeks rising like a napping bat
and which I know are alive because before they fall
they always smudge the skinny windows
in the same way a fingerprint would
it's not the only thing I see
just one of many moving parts that I can't get near enough to touch
and probably shouldn't anyways
they're competing for memories
I don't question them
they are infinitely kind

Archive Your Mistakes

promise me something

when there is action

you don’t need to ask

about compliments

I’ll shut off the heater

the big silent heater

the unfortunate yolk

spread across the earth

like a napkin

skimming the surface

and reminding the surface

of its good looks

and defying democratic process

by lying to you

a cube is a boy

who builds cubes

that are dedicated to weather

on your birthday

it was complete

because he completed it

and buried it

and covered up the burial ground

with a magazine

which he then imagined

as an old woman

discovering the very toxic

layers of earth

she grew to love

but because of their toxicity

a gold tooth in her hair

at the bottom of a lake

which made it easier to try

meaning easier to attempt to try

and get lost in the disaster

of sitting down to say hello

but forgetting to say hello

and forgetting to say shut down

#parents

The Contender

the contender

quits playing piano

he has important messages

to compose and address

the capitol is full of alligators

which makes no difference

to contender one

or contender two

and so being the one remaining

fully reticent and beautiful

in a seated position

his interest distracted by elemental yawning

and by the positioning systems

signs must be delivered

like bleeding signs

routes that lead us to showrooms

dotted with geometry

and a fax machine

if it isn’t a problem for you

it becomes one

if you ask politely

when low on hope for cooler afternoons

with less description

contender zero will call your parents

to tell them he has quit

going to replica mining villages

and instead has built his own

and is now working full time for you

as an attempt to greet

the stages of feeling

that exist when a contender

lowers a rope into a well

then into the sea

then into the well again

then into the sea again

because you asked him to

and that is his duty