Poems from Pedro

i

it crept

ii

taunted by submission,
hopeless sin love,
I smiled it awake.

iii

“almost done”
(^nope)
said the woman to the men
lifting the tufted couch
to her top floor

iv

he took so long to come
but now every capillary
red and pulsing

v

can’t imagine seeing you
without words I would
want it

vi

everything breathing

vii

she is all I see in an eternal orgy
her face faces eyes
while he’s in her
he, a mystery
but she is me

viii

he was beautiful
he’s still in me

ix

seashells he brought me
stained with my ankle’s blood

x

it’s just
sun on a page
until you look away at another man
with a suitcase

xi

as soon as I drank him
into a trance
I knew what to do

xii

oh no my pages run out quite soon
didn’t know he’d take up so much
space

xiii

everything else
the ink leaves out

xiv

slowly

he took
his time
with me

xv

doesn’t matter
what I do
it will go

xvi

he wouldn’t want to rush anything
all these weddings around me
a man sprints past, a woman poses
a boy in Doc Martens boots
stuffs a plastic checkered picnic blanket
into a trash bin

a little girl screams
“FLOWERS!”

xvii

all those dried leaves
never collected
still fell

xviii

two men on their way home
carrying love,
a gallon of Canola oil

xix

eye contact with a skater
as he bombs the hill I climb
it’s all happening in front of me
while I’m busy writing it down

xx

back through
the same alley I came
of course I can’t breathe
with my nose plugged

xxi

he gave me a poem