Leather & Let Her

I.
You will always misplace keys,
important documents, wallets
and remote controls. But there
will always be an abundance
of random,
useless pennies and my great
worry.

II.
My Life as a Novel:
I woke up and then
something happened.

My Life as a Poem:

happened.

III.
On a plane ride across
oceans across languages
and tanlines that cut flesh
like cookies on a sheet,
a dear friend wrote me
words for the new year-
a simple recipe that I have tried
to follow and gain taste for-
"I hope love is your only addiction and
that you can be your own ambition."

IV.
A resolute chin and a
boxy-ness that lacked
any spring...I told you
the wind would shimmy
down this way. I told you
that the seasons
would alter, puker up and
malaise like women becoming
handbags digging in their handbags
for handcreams and photos saying
"Look here! New Zealand! Look here!
A cruise!" Saying "Look here!
A handbag for my hand in a bag
and I am digging out the bottom
of myself every day for sixty years!"

Lipstick collected in
the crevice of Marge's
bottom lip and offset
her wig. I wonder if she
found love, kept pennies.


V.
My life as a commercial:
Smile- it happened.


VI.
You will always
misplace key things.
They will always be
at the bottom
of everything.