Coming Up

our father who art in a penthousesits in his 37th floor suiteand swivels to gaze downat the city he made me inhe allows me to stand andsollicit graffiti untilhe needs the land I stand onI in my darkened thresholdam pawing through my pocketsthe receipts, the bus schedulesthe matchbook phone numbersthe […]


Continue Reading

Fixing Her Hair

she’s looking in the mirrorshe’s fixing her hairand I touch my head to feelwhat isn’t thereshe’s humming a melodywe learned in grade schoolshe’s so happyand I thinkthis is not cool’cause I know the guyshe’s been talking aboutI have met him beforeand I thinkwhat is this beautiful beautiful womansettling for? she […]


Continue Reading

Coming Up

our father who art in a penthousesits in his 37th floor suiteand swivels to gaze downat the city he made me inhe allows me to stand andsollicit graffiti untilhe needs the land I stand onI in my darkened thresholdam pawing through my pocketsthe receipts, the bus schedulesthe matchbook phone numbersthe […]


Continue Reading

Done Wrong

the wind is ruthlessthe trees shake angry fingers at the skythe people hunch their shouldershold their collars over their earsand run byit’s a cold rainit’s a hard rainlike the kind that you find in songsi guess that makes methe jerk with the heartachehere to sing youabout how i’ve been done […]


Continue Reading

Make Me Stay

I’m gonna turnand walk awayyou can waittil I am far alongthen run and comeand catch my armand say you’d dieif I were goneI want to hear youcall my nameit’s too easyjust to say it softI don’t like my languagewatered downI don’t like my edgesrounded off I can’t always waitfor your […]


Continue Reading

Served Faithfully

he caresses every bottlelike it’s the first one he’s hadsayingit ain’t lovebut it ain’t badit’s the only rewardbestowed upon meand I have served faithfully I can see he is scarredfrom doing some hard timebut I let alone what is broken’cause it isn’t minehe strikes out at mewhen I am within […]


Continue Reading

Roll With It

She says my ass hurtswhen I sit downshe says my feet hurtfrom just standing aroundI think my bodyis as restless as my mindand I don’t know if I can roll with itthis time packed his uniformsand drove him to the baseshe was crying all the waythe world looked her in […]


Continue Reading

Cradle And All

fourteenth street and the garbage swirls like a cyclonethree o’clock in the afternoon and I am going homeF train is full of high school studentsso much shoutingso much laughterlast night’s underwear in my back pocketsure sign of the morning after take me hometake me home and leave me therethink I’m […]


Continue Reading

Talk To Me Now

he said ani, you’ve gotten tough’cause my tone was curtyeah, and when I’m approached in a dark alleyI don’t lift my skirtin this cityself-preservationis a full time occupationI’m determinedto survive on this shoreyou know I don’tavert my eyes anymorein a man’s worldI am a woman by birthand after nineteen times […]


Continue Reading

Egos Like Hairdos

I saw on the postermy name was printedjust a little bit smallerI can tell you need to standjust a little bit tallerno one ever talks about itbut no one can disguisethe cloud of competitionthat’s hanging behind their eyesthere’s more bad bloodin this bar than there is beerand it’s subtle but […]


Continue Reading

In Or Out

guess there’s something wrong with meguess I don’t fit inno one wants to touch itno one knows where to beginI’ve got more than one membershipto more than one cluband I owe my lifeto the people that I love he looks me up and downlike he knows what time it islike […]


Continue Reading

32 Flavors

squint your eyes and look closerI’m not between you and your ambitionI am a poster girl with no posterI am thirty-two flavors and then someand I’m beyond your peripheral visionso you might want to turn your headcause someday you’re going to get hungryand eat most of the words you just […]


Continue Reading