March 10-16, 2014: Diana Raab and Jonathan Hayes

Smudged Kisses

When we lie together
me on your barely shaven chest
your legs snaked around mine,
I feel this pile of smudged tongue kisses
on the shirts of your life,
woven into the ethers we share
with our own ambient air.

One can get lost
in this sense of euphoria
this truthful after-sex delight
when everything seems right
and we are so very tight
within our boundaries
until I turn to you
in that window of ten minutes
to ask of the truth of you.

You kiss my forehead
and firmly squeeze my deltoids
and say that’s a rhetorical question,
as your kisses fill oversized buckets
suspended from silken blue skies
and your heart beats into mine
as time snakes ever so slowly
around our temporary universe.

Woody Allen is Filming a Movie on Post Street

After work trekking home I walk past the shoot and the same Buddhist monk
I walked past the other day.

But today this monk and I catch eyes and I say, "Are you one of Woody’s extras?"
"No," he says. "But for a donation I’ll be your extra." With both hands he extends a shiny
gold plastic card from a small neat pack in his palm.

Reaching into my black jeans’ front pocket and finding nothing but my apartment keys
I quickly realize and tell him I have no money. I open my tote bag and grab out the
Chinatown peach that I didn’t eat during lunch today.

He says, "It’s okay," with just a slight head bow, and then he slides a wooden beaded
bracelet onto my right wrist. We connect eyes and hold something greater than us for a
warm moment. Then, as the street traffic rushes by, we walk away.

The monk continues looking for money down Stockton Street, and I walk home up Nob Hill
telling myself not to take off the bracelet and wondering what this movie is all about.

Late Evening

The astray is warm
The toilet makes a noise

The t.v. is still on

In the City

Sixth Street bodega beer is ice-freezing cold and the cheapest
And yes, the “21 Hayes” bus is rolling down Market Street

Why have a cannabis card when the gangsters serve you fatter!?

Of course, I need a haircut, and that Latin tranny caught my eye

Just thinking about the post-script to Armageddon
While I cross the street with both my feet still working

Let’s get a $2.50 slice from Chico’s and talk about it…