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Jessica Dawson

Hurricane season


It's finally raining.

The ground has cracked

into pleased smiles,

the grass is arched

and ready -

it's been

flexing its anticipation

all week.

Tumbleweed garbage cans

take flight.


Raindrops assault my

bare knees,

filthy my polished heels,

birth a new me

from the morning's

peeling layers.


My heart waves

like a second-hand flag

against a graying sky.


The office

has all the ambience

of a nursing home.

I step outside;

embrace the storm

for a cigarette.



Fountain


I am a fountain,

and today is the day

for wishes.


Give me your pocket change;

I do not discriminate.

But I am full

of empty promise.


You are a self-fulfilling prophesy

and I am helpless.



Breakdown

Eyes like love letters,

words like

working lighthouses…


With his index finger,

he tugs on the pocket of my jeans,

points out Venus.

But the cities too bright,

my eyes tired.


God, I love the way he says

the word "appreciate".

I wonder how I can get him to say it again…


He paints me orange,

sketches me listless,

and sings me triangular.


At the moment of orgasm,

I am as close as I've ever felt

to my version of god.

His lips are like icons.

He's a well,

bubbling up

from my bedroom floor.


Hey - splash a little water on your face.


The sound of spilling sugar

provokes me to tears.


His voice jeers

like an alarm clock

all the way on the other side of the room.

In the rust of afternoon,

I see his pillars as fallen,

reduced to dust.


This fuck

has eclipsed into boredom,

has melted

into something old and unnecessary.


Define love.

Then, quickly, explain solitude

in a hundred words or less -

but leave my name alone.


Our last conversation

clatters on the tiles of my memory.


I cling in theory only,

smile hypotheses,

waiting for the bus,

for the rain to start.


Yellow light

reflects forgotten features…

No, we haven't spoken.


[Index]

Thunder Sandwich #26 - Summer/Fall 2005