Ten Short Sentences IV

I
my friend caught lyme’s and couldn’t smile on one side like he was the moon

II
The man follows the dog, proud of how tall it is, how high up its balls

III
the volleyball game for girls five through seven, dads think “destroy them”

IV
try to type “is that” the phone corrects to “Ishtar” and you convert

V
chicken talon hung in the rear view mirror never forget it

VI
mother dog’s nipples graze the ground, puppies groan at her

VII
parrots, cockatoos: kinds of birds that always laugh and have never meant it

IX
instead of a man why not be utterly changed to fire

X
the monk in the jeep “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God” upside down in the ditch

Ten Short Sentences III

I
when the sun woke her she knew today was the day—they all wore tie-dye

II
the thunder sounds like a glass rolled on the counter, the birds aren’t worried

III
the Baby in dirt his heel digs a divot he blinks at the sun

IV
train topiary wanted to be a snake and choose where to go

V
since they don’t suffer no one laughs at jokes the sunflowers tell

VI
japanese student look at a picture on a phone, one says “derete it”

VII
in one austen book a sea captain can’t handle a girl falling down

VIII
got paralyzed once but not really paralyzed just full of sheet cake

IX
in 1860 black slaves yell “we’re free at last” in capture the flag

X
devil works too hard—trying to make me laugh he gave me palsy

I
the bird screams at me from a nest on a street light that he thinks he owns

II
the boy pedals by, samurai sword down shorts’ leg—cuts me with a glare

III
sidewalk’s heat drifts up and sticks in my hanging hands like I dreamed bee stings

IV
sprinkler nods a circle—a machine gun that says yes to water, grass, worms

V
grass looks at the birch, thinks “soon the birds will rest in my branches too”

VI
today a cooler breeze—the wind also imagines it’s by the ocean

VII
the sidewalks become canyons of moms and babies—they echo each other

VIII
when I came back then for my annual check up, my doctors were all dead

IX
breeze in my ear, blood in my ear, both headed somewhere else

X
every last rock every side it rests on thinks, “I’m upside down”