New Sh*t!

My brother and I are working on a new project. 10 weeks. 10 topics. We each write and maybe they'll be a chapbook down the line. For the first week our topic was "The End of the Summer."

Right before your leaves turned orange
I thought about the peach I ate last August.
That lone fruit you handed to me right before
our summer expired-
it tasted like an apology.
Like every note spoken between us
What you gave me then was edible,
disposable like seasons.
It couldn’t stay around longer than my lips would let it
But I let it.

And now summer is molding into another Fall
Reminding me how, in a second, rain can thin
out the humidity in this city.
How the convexity of air between every sapling kiss
can stale my lungs again.
You left in a sand storm
boots up like a hero
Asking me one last time what god meant to me
and I told you she lives in this limbo
This time when the next season seems
like nothing but possible.

The sun is creeping behind the clouds earlier these days
Makes it easier to sink into my bed without your
memory hanging in the daylight
Dusk reminding me of secrets passed
between open mouth breaths
Intentional
Piercing
Cold like this makes it impossible to remember warmth
The memory of your season is out of my grasp again.

Like teeth on a too ripe peach
My brain is sinking into mush
Puddling into something that used to be whole

This is what the end of summer brings each time you leave
We are seasons too brief for memory
And the candid shots of coasts
we used to dream about together

Just two orange Polaroids,
disposable as the wind.

Come Support Me at 11th Hour Slam. Busboys on 14th. Fri 9/11. 11pm.

I will be competing in the slam this Friday Sept 11th at 11pm (but to actually get in, you have to get there at 10) at Busboys & Poets on 14th and V. Have I practiced yet? No. Have I memorized any of the pieces I'm doing? Heck nah. This is why I need your love and support to sway the judges. I'm making it my goal to get on the National's team this year and every point counts! Only $5!

More info: http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events.php

I wear my sunglasses under the chuppah

It was a sunny southern wedding ceremony for my dear friends Jamie and Steve who got married this weekend on a farm outside Chapel Hill, NC. They asked me to write and recite a poem for them at their ceremony as a modern and progressive translation of the Sheva Brachot (Seven Blessings) that are traditionally recited at Jewish weddings. Heres at it:

Today nature’s hand is creeping 

up from the earth like a golden flower
Reminding us how much richer the soil is today-
the mountains inching a little closer to the sky.

The kisses of wind to skin remind us 

what alive feels like today
Let the silence of earth be the pause 

needed to reflect on the blessings of our years
Let the shadow of clouds drifting blue behind us
allow the collapse of sky to drip into our lungs.

Breathe
The earth is inflating with our wholeness today
The genuine human spirit that we are lucky
enough to hold in our palm
Clutch it with your heart
but allow your hands to be forever open-
to welcome, to love, to accept.

Let us find comfort in the one who inspires us today
Holding ourselves up to a mirror that reflects 

consciousness of the world’s fusions and fissures,
awareness of the creation that comes from within
that makes life tangible, attainable, possible.

It is with each new phase in our lives that we sing back,
listening for the echo of our soul to
reverberate in our ribcages.
Reminding us of what has been
Reminding us that true completion of each moment
is necessary for flight
Necessary for finding true tranquility in the peace 

of life’s connections

It is the beauty of life’s connections that unify us today
Each somehow touched by this blending of souls
Whether it is she, a smile stretched like a canvass, wide-eyed and never failing in finding life’s highest altitudes
Or he, patient, tender, a world behind those kind eyes
It is by them that we truly see 

the wonder of cycles repeating
Of waves crashing at the right second
to bring us to this moment.

It is with singing that we are reminded of the lightness
of voices lifting into air
Unifying creatures into community
into harmony
Into the hope that if we follow your footprints
Living each day with fullness, awareness and giving
We too can find the kind of love that sustains

that nourishes
And that brings us true and gratifying peace.