On Seeing a Seemingly Pristine $30 Collection is a Measly $1 Less Than 3

On Seeing a Seemingly Pristine $30 Collection is a Measly $1 Less Than 3

Because I want it cheap

I’ll get it cheap but still

that don’t mean I can’t

worship some of how it got to

me from the start.  How

opening it once it arrives

will take some saying and

some not and mostly not

and everyday its up to me

if I decide to let the say

have the day and least

ways if it does its up

to me to shut it up if it

needs shutting up.  Who will

tell me it doesn’t start before

the penciled two bucks zipped

quick and blunt on the inside lid

by a fist I’ll never see

Rolling off the line it was

$30.00 but that was seven

years ago now and new and seeing

it’s my tradition as got me

this far (buying used I’m saying

saves paper and makes

for good food if I’m serving

it and anyway nobody’s

complaining it’s something

personal I taught myself

by waiting and watching

and mostly by getting under

my muscle enough to

palm it to calm it and imagine

my four fingers and one

thumb not so much clutching

as letting it be hung

while it goes on and on

beating.  Hearts are like that

I know you know though

how much time do you spend

getting to know  your own?

Shit, it’s inches from your chin,

that flattened hinge of a fan

that holds the middle of your face

in place, where they say

you gotta take it day after day

I made it this far enough to wait

to open the poet

who was thousands of suns

and stars away from me once

and all these years and see

how cheaply bought this New

and Selected?  But it’s not that

You know it and I know it

Nothing comes cheap – those suns

and stars least

Cheap don’t mean easy and if

that’s the first thing

you think about before you slip

your hand out from under

your own calmed heart like

I asked you to though I bet

you didn’t hear me did you

to pick up his I guess you’re well

on your way to letting someone

else’s blood fall on  your lips

and begin to make you

clean am I right?