By Amy Simone Piller
I.
Caffeine waning
sugar crashed
boost craving
It is late afternoon
and I want
II.
Let your eyes
linger me longer
I want to feel
not solve
your problems
though I will pretend to care
Notice how I just started using you
(Who am I talking to?
You always in need
I is never not in want
and who are they?
She he impersonal
a distant cousin
unaware)
III.
This is a warning
I will manipulate
life’s demands
beyond restraint
Take [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
CONSIDERING MOTHERHOOD
I.
Neurotic when I walk
translating songs to Spanish
to practice
to focus
to proceed
tapping barely known notes
of Ode to Joy joyful joy
childhood patterns
I smile often
on my own
II.
I imagine waking at four am wondering
if the imagined you is breathing next door
I have never been one for fine print
direction manuals and to think
this might lead to that stopping
perfect breath
How will [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
I get fatalistic at intersections
this could be it
…
Today in peer mediation
one student repeatedly apologies
the other refuses to accept
I said
Really you don’t think he can change?
He said
Nope
I said
There’s no reason to be alive
if you don’t think people can change
He said
He’s gonna keep picking his nose
A student passing by said
Ask him to wash his hands
He said
Nope
She said
How [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
I.
Never bend a flower stalk
cut swiftly what must be
let root to petiole flow
oh to know her dahlia delight
stay in bloom gently prune
see his lisianthus light
II.
One day a small voice
will ask what was said and how
You will look distant and cloudy
and say it was as beautiful as you are now
recalling your parents faces cracking voices
shelter and [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
I would like to eat a strawberry
at the end of the day
when I have almost had
a headache too long
I would like to look
the way one is supposed to
with wet hair
just out of the shower
(feisty not bedraggled)
I would like to distract people
I sit across from at meetings
shampoo commercial
attention stealing
from a vitally important seminar
on topics all too [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
I know what I can give
and when I cannot
carry your burden
like a cup of water
a cup of flower
flower cup
sides bendable
breaking off
unstable
styrofoam
biodegradable
broke
I know what you can give
and when you cannot
carry my burden
closed in pre-bloom
prepubescent confused
tightly bound fetal found
closed off protected
internal
I know what I am
when I can carry you
fragrant fruitful full of more
exuberance energy everything all
light-induced magical [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
You say simply
my name
and there is air
to breathe
enough
You say simply
my name
my ears go flush
not blotchy afraid
but smiling skin
untouched
You say simply
my name
my government a rush
invocation evoked
anger flushed
(memories of parents
the first of bloom
unfolding mixed up
associations mingle
so much, so much)
You say simply
my name
our eyes
touch
By Amy Simone Piller
I.
Tonight
everything is just so
Posture upright
sets’ delicate descent
Not life
dress rehearsed
air brushed
correct
Nothing calm
pretense, rigmarole
Awkward silence
frame story, content
II.
Baby’s breath sits
vased on the table
like growing out hair
in need of a cut
sometimes life is
too much
Water the flowers
or let them die
We accidentally decide
when to be
vulnerable
III.
Screen addiction
sips our softness
the characters will
figure it out
the story will
come to an end
Why remember to be gentle?
Why [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
Today I planted plants
hearing my mother make fun
of my pledge to grow
gardens later in life
whenever that comes
and yet the leaves called
the consistency
the possibility of
supposed to’s
xylem and phloem
the eye of the storm
the separation
lightning and thunder
distance space
if we let it
will it be okay?
What can I do?
but say truth
to you even when nothing
will be good enough
to make you [...]
By Amy Simone Piller
I
When it is morning
truth taunts
I am not that tired
only cold calls me
back to bed
II.
The flowers on the table
died quietly
without smell they sit
awaiting elimination
I eat breakfast
III.
While we made love
I saw sea urchins
lose their rigidity
jellyfish dancing
darkened ocean
because because
IV.
Comfort comes in many forms