Make some noise for the virgin poet

The steel toed, blue collar poetry
The kind that shit talks and winces-through-sore-forearm-fuckery
Been doin’ it since I was 9, that’s a lie

I’m just a wanna be – that never has
Well, I has a little
(Stammering) I – I – I can hang drywall now!

I can’t grit my teeth like they can yet
I don’t mean it and they know it
Green around the edges with the familiar fishy smell

I walk into the deli,
Tape on my hip, like some
Hollywood “cowboy” that can’t even ride a fuckin’ horse

It’s the kind of sonnet
That always has ragged lines –
Never so neat and orderly

Wait, what am I talking about?
Poetry? Construction?
Cause I do both like it’s my first time

Gaslight, Clifton – 4/4/17

One hundred years of insulation
rained down on my head
Shit, literal shit
And I could’ve stayed in bed

Plaster, drywall, ceiling tile
Confetti you wouldn’t want to eat
Tear it down with garden tools
In this mansion ‘cross the street

Dust in lungs, soot in eyes
I look like another race
Shoes stuck with nails, bleeding socks
Hair in my fuckin’ face

Break the lath over your knee
Bend back all the nails
Into the bin with most of it
And throw it down in bales

It’s like another planet,
The look of mold from Mars
Scoop it up with snow shovels
Throw it out – but miss the cars

It’s all swept up, shit’s all gone
No debris at my feet
One hundred years of secrets
That I intend to keep