words die by broken
windows, & i dress in old
dirt everyday.

� � �

"Michigan Solitude: II"
2002

i burn cigarettes
just so i can watch the smoke
float to the ceiling.

� � �

"Michigan Solitude: III"
2002

i stepped on a fish
his body stuck to my shoe
all i did was laugh

� � �

"Michigan Solitude: IV"
2002

"you look like a man,"
said the boy on the corner;
"you are not pretty."

� � �

"Michigan Solitude: V"
2002

with my bare fingers
i ate strawberry preserves
straight from the glass jar.

� � �

"Michigan Solitude: VI"
2002

the greatest day of
my life came when the wind combed
through my long, brown hair.

� � �

"Michigan Solitude: VII"
2002

all the kings' men laughed
when it was me who fell down
from off of the wall.

� � �

"Michigan Solitude: VIII"
2002

i bought my wings for
one dollar at a run-down
store in michigan

� � �

"Home Coming"
2004

In Iowa wind
I embrace the black loam.
-- I am welcomed home.

� � �

"136 North Bridge"
2004

it has been too long
since i saw the lights of a
passing cargo barge.

� � �

"Trinity Lutheran Church"
2004

I can sing louder
than those plump bitches in church
on Sunday morning.

� � �

"Both Sides of the Coin: Heads"
2004

I will lay in my
faith, and covered by Mary's
arms I will not weep.

� � �

"Both Sides of the Coin: Tails"
2004

i will starve until
my sins have been redeemed by
a god who loves me.

� � �

"R.J.P. I"
2004

too many nights i've
gone without sleep, but in your
bed i'm not haunted.

� � �

"R.J.P. II"
2004

the only thing that's
keeping you from loving me
is 21 years.

� � �

"R.J.P. III"
2004

foolish little girls
always get their hearts broken
by shrewd gentlemen.

� � �

"Wrestling Alligators"
2004

i was eleven
when i began to wrestle
the alligators

� � �

"1"
2004

Allow me to lick
up your neck and breathe in your
sexuality.

� � �

"2"
2004

on my body i
can feel where your desires
and lusts ache to be.

� � �

"3"
2004

swimming in lust of
your fingertips on my breasts,
your skin on my skin.

� � �

"4"
2004

to taste your mouth on
my tongue makes the amazon
flow between my thighs.

� � �

"5"
2004

touching, mouth to mouth --
licking your saliva from
my fingers and lips.

� � �

"6"
2004

on a sultry night
the only sounds are our breath
pulsating the air.

� � �

"7"
2004

holy water could
not wash away the sins we
create in my bed.

� � �

"8"
2004

small moans from the back
of my throat tell you that i
don't want this to end.

� � �

"9"
2004

sometimes women like
me make the best lovers in
bed for men like you.

� � �

"10"
2004

my curtains blow from
winds that crossed lands far away,
bringing smells of you.

� � �

"11"
2004

i read ana�s
nin when it's too damn hot to
sleep beneath the sheets.

� � �

"12"
2004

in another world
we are perfect lovers who
fuck on the table.

� � �

"13"
2004

place your hands on my
naked skin & tell me the
story of your life.

� � �

"14"
2004

thinking of kissing
you makes the butterflies soar
high in my tummy.

� � �

"15"
2004

"be my muse," he said;
"be my temple goddess, and
i'll love only you."

� � �

"16"
2004

together we sit
over foreign newspapers
and morning orange juice.

� � �

"17"
2004

you are poetry
as you slumber in my arms
during a snow storm.

� � �

"18"
2004

curled inside your thoughts
a million miles away,
i love how you dream.

� � �

"19"
2004

i want us to make
love everyday and whisper
poetry all night.

� � �

"20"
2004

i whisper to him
over land and sea, "i'll be
a breath on your skin."

� � �

"21"
2004

is it okay if
i dream about your skin on
sultry summer nights?

� � �

"22"
2004

are those your fingers
i feel tracing my body,
outlining my skin?

� � �

"23"
2004

swimming in lust of
your fingertips on my breasts,
you skin on my skin.

� � �

"24"
2004

write your poetry
on my lucid skin as i
paint dreams on your flesh.

� � �

"25"
2004

on my body i
can feel where your desires
and lusts ache to be.

� � �

"Kharma"
2004

Butterfly and Snow
spent afternoons in warm sun
collecting buttons.

� � �

"Message for Mom"
2004

there are a million
things i'd never say to you,
such as "I love you."

� � �

"Question for Mom"
2004

what monster broke you
how did you become so cruel
what thief took your heart -- ?

� � �

"Sympathy for Mom"
2004

forgive me, mommy,
for the pain i inflicted,
but you hurt me too.

� � �

"Confrontation for Mom"
2004

it's what you wanted:
a girl who doesn't need you --
now it's what you hate.

� � �

"Revenge for Mom"
2004

i could slit your throat
with a devious grin spread
on my face, mother

� � �

"Command for Mom"
2004

strangle me with that
look in your eye and tell me
how awful i am

� � �

"Mother Tongue"
2004

my mothers tongue is
quick and sharp to the frailness
of my weary heart

� � �

"To HIM"
2004

i want to rip your
teeth out with my bare hands &
make you feel the same

� � �

"Question"
2004

how do you tell a
child it wasn't her fault
that a man raped her?

� � �

"Just So You Know"
2004

until you have felt
your skin violated, you
have no idea

� � �

"Untitled"
2004

born a bastard in
the cornfields of the midwest --
i killed my father

� � �

"Untitled"
2004

10:40 p.m. --
my baptism was next down,
but I wasn't there.

� � �

"Untitled"
2004

Burned on paper leaves
are the wretched souls of a
thousand dead poems.

� � �

"Untitled"
2004

I want a home here,
in the anonymous hills
of the Midwest field.

� � �

"Untitled"
2004

I have licked plates clean
in front of kings. I know I'm
not a perfect girl.

� � �

"Untitled"
2004

i want to be the
carefree child i was
before you happened

� � �

"Untitled"
2004

i'm twenty-one years
of age and already i've
outlived my father

� � �

"Untitled"
2004

too soon to explain