Friday, February 26, 2010

OYHSTWTM





the man who first said, “I will have them

eating out of my hands!” never fed an animal

in his life. He never cooked a meal for his mother

or his son or his wife – never bought a meal

for anyone but himself – but once, on

an airplane, he passed a coffee to the person

next to him because the stewardess

couldn’t reach


*


they only way I’ve survived this long

is that I can taste the thing before I’ve

put it to my tongue


*


I would let you


*


you’re careful not to get your fingers bitten

as you should be

they are lovely fingers


*


I’ve never been truly hungry – close to starvation or

too weak to cry. There are two types of people

in this world

men

&

women

& they crawl through the blackness

towards one another, locking mouths

in the months before elections


*


people who have experienced great loss

& great love, great war & great weirdness

don’t really talk about it much. & why would they?

People who eat out of peoples’ hands, they talk

as loud as they can.

No one listens to them



*


you open your hands

show them what they’re missing


2 comments:

jenica said...

I'm reading this in class today as part of our end of the year coffee house poetry reading.

Justin Sirois said...

That makes me super happy.