Poem A Day 2024

draft
fuck up better

on a day like today, when you fuck up
even before you wake up
you hope to at least fall forward
and miss getting it in the face

on a day when the morning alarms
weren't loud enough to rouse
you tell yourself that you are human
and this is likely fixable, with hat in hand

and so you go to take it on the chin
confess that it was all your fault
and "what can I do to rectify this?"
needs to fall from your mouth

often and repeatedly.

Ariel

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headlines

detective stories are most often stolen from New York library
I never return the luscious art books I've check out
It's okay, in December I bring in canned food to pay my debt 
is this charity? I don't know
when the wind blows my loose hair,
it is never as alluring as novels say
neither are dresses.
Sneakers the thing; best footwear
for the woods on account of comfort
still, i got furious when a friend 
asked me to stand on my head. 
I will not; however,
I would sit on a burglar, 
and teach him, like a naughty bird,
cuss words until he returns to his den
I'm a queer bird that looks part monkey, 
part eagle, and a little bit dove.
Truth be told my young pheasants are
ashamed of their dowdy old mother. 
I don't care; I will buy the Eiffel Tower
and paint the cats that come,
feed the queer ones; they are such cheeky fellows.
lightni,cng will scatter pastry across the graveyards,
ghosts and dogs will sit right down 
eat pie and cakes, drink a kettle of coffee,
ice cream? For breakfast? So Ezra Pound said,. 

Ariel

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instructions on how to love me

bring me home rose bushes
complete with thorns
so i may plant them near my windows.

surprise me with kittens
and full grown cats
name them something ridiculous

take me to bookstores
and let me bring home my bounty
and read to you

drive me to the seashore
and build me a bonfire
watch me dance to old gods

lay near me quietly at night
touch me as you will
listen to my heart beat.

Ariel

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twofer tuesday

it rained and didn't rain
and i sat on the couch and paced
again i didn't want and desperately needed
you and me

two is supposed to be my lucky number
but now I am only one
or zero
i want to be two,
two for you and me.

Ariel

draft
ode to a lottery

hope
it's easier to feel it with a slip
of paper in your hand
knowing however slim
there's one chance that is all yours
numbers that, as a group, belong to you
when the roof leaks
and the electricity is iffy
that little paper keeps you dry.

Ariel