Lovers on a Train

Subtle begging in the tilt
of her head
eager, wanting her lover's kiss
Oblivious to anyone else 
to train
or setting sun of peach gold

Lips wet and soft
eyes drift closed, dreamy
and hopeful
beautiful, clinging blush heat cheeks
as fingers reach
stroke
caress
cling, mold

Delicate
strong world
of want and need
of requests anticipated
sleek lips and sweet
comforting love

baby fat

Someday 

my skin will clear

my eyes will be luminous

And I will have worn away

my baby fat

Someday

my thoughts will astound

my Art will be be pristine

and I will have shed

my fears

Someday

i will be graceful

I'll understand

why some die after

undeserved happy lives

why the rest of us bear the scars

bright, secret sunshine

i am clumpy
and dumpy
malformed
and disproportionately balanced
I smile my dimpled Southern comfort
at those who catch my eye
But those who do are
usually few and far
between
And taken
Or broken in a way I can't fix
& don't want to touch
After all, when the sun settles
& the dust forgotten
I am Ok
Alone with my bloated arms & pale skin
Because I know what to expect from me
and I am safe


One day
my eyes find a catch
& my stupid heart tripped


There, in solid frame and velvet jacket
with jeans
was Someone that made
silence seem hollow and
the dumpy, clumpy seem
sinuous
clandestine


Saying things i didn't understand
standing reverently hushed in a marble atrium
full of admirers
while
my tongue grew clunky and lunky,
mouth glued shut
life paused
a moment birthed
and in the mud of my befuddled being


a sunbeam thought
of maybe...


subtly then
and over time
my clumpy will smooth
and dumpy will shift


I will be more
I will be my world to mold

My Two Coins

Talmud says a word is worth one coin,
silence worth two 
Different silence lingers here
Untalking strangers on a train waft silence
like humid Southern air
Untalking souls on a street caress silence
like a woman in want of a lover
Zorah says silence is good everywhere
but in connection to Torah


On a train
in a Southern summer
the week my father died


my soul silently screams for God