Hypochondriac

He doesn’t know what ails him;
it will not rest until it has a name.

Or he forgets.

He thinks his knees are aching,
or his calves might be swollen.

He thinks he’s got a fever,
or a cough.

He’s tired of thinking.

It crosses his mind
that it might be his mind.

“But it doesn’t make it
any less real,” he says.

He thinks it might be the new job,
or the boredom;

a pill—any pill—would do.

He thinks he’s lucky,
and he’s sorry,

and he counts his blessings in one breath.
“I have you, and her, and her—

don’t make me cry!”

But it still doesn’t have a name.
Only sometimes it doesn’t need one.

We Did

We would extend our arms from car windows,
palms open, fingers stretched,
hands flapping against the wind—
that was the sound of our happiness.

The sunshine, the air,
the world supine at our feet,
the smiles that would never end,
and Amália singing of honey and water,

our names under her breath.
Parked in the middle of a field,
the country was just waking up,
smelling the dawn on our skins.

We stood over a rock
by a lake forced into being,
leaning away from each other,
arms taught, hands clasped, eye unwavering—

we would have fallen had we let go.
And we did.

First Friday at Milkboy Coffee

Bring your poetry and come join us on Friday, July 6 for what my friend Alrene so aptly described as "love-in" for "the battle-scarred veterans of so many open mics"! It will be an open mic, including but not limited to poets from the Mad Poets Society, Friends of Poetry and PhillyPoetry. We're scheduled to begin at 7 pm, and the address is the new MilkBoy Coffee at 824 West Lancaster Ave in the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.

i-Outlaw 2.6

My poem, Naked on the Inside, is now featured in the most recent episode of i-Outlaw, 2.6 featuring Annie Finch. Please give the episode a listen!

You can also enter a contest to win a free book of poetry; listen to i-Outlaw now and find out how...
http://i-outlaw.blogspot.com/2007/06/
i-outlaw-26-featuring-annie-finch.html

And the Carnival is Back in Town...

Well, it's not so much that the Carnival is back, as much as it is that I'm back to the Carnival. So, jump over to Billy the Blogging Poet's home-turf:
http://www.musecrafters.com/bloggingpoet/926/A+Bard+Birthday+Party.html
..wish him a Happy Birthday, and sample the sweet poetry offerings at the party!