we found each other's bodies
in a pile of bodies
writhing and squirming for the light
you were pulling petals off flowers
I was teaching young children how to swear
and in that moment of passion
such beauty, such surprise
that you would come over to my side,
we appeared preserved
as in a woodcut in Death's private study
where his desk was carved
with gargoyle heads and real heads
all open-mouthed and stretched
and I've never seen so many names on lists
and even he couldn't stop all of the light
coming through the blinds,
although I knew it was you,
and the saddest place to sit
is on a kitchen floor
not knowing what words to think
The Only Star For Me
It’s my corner coffee shop, Starbucks
The cheer starts here with hot coffee
I’ll get yours, it’s nothing, awe shucks
A home away from home, my family
A blended Frappuccino, at lunch to boast
Make it a Sumatra Arabica venti
Fresh whole coffee beans dark roast
Patrons on Laptops, their cup’s never empty
Macha Latte hot tea, sweet and uplifting
Named after Starbuck, the first mate in Moby Dick
Originally intended on naming the coffeehouse Pequod
after Ahab’s whaleship, the name would not stick
At the brand’s core is the Starbucks siren, odd
The bare-breasted, two-tailed mermaid but
was intended to be as seductive as their coffees
Based on an old sixteenth-century Norse woodcut
The Seattle’s Pike Place logo evolved in the seventies
They unveiled a cleaner image of the mermaid
She was updated, cropped, and repositioned,
so that only above the navel is displayed