Quotable You

for Beckah's Birthday
there’s no shortage of dungeon masters
to ally sheedy all over your options
for ninety year old dames trapped
in allustions to flannery o’connor
on a russian winter war novella
i’m a food network superstar
having a glass of red with you
as we map the field of mars
& speak of admiral nelson’s diversions
that forbid certain condiments from the table
or of cures that use the blood of roosters
to howl spontaneous passages
to friendship’s quotable nights out
like doing thriller, only you’re a t-rex

Sweet

for Lynch

in a comedian’s dream where
there’s an eternal couch back stage
a party is carried with you
as large as grief and celebration
will get up and drag redolent goers
from their private booths without so much
as instructions, you have music in your head
that a community will gather to sing
i read backwards like magazines
memory is a ledger of goodbyes
when all i want is tales without caution
to line up along these winter streets
because there’s no vessel large enough
to hold all our notions of you