1.
a hummingbird
sipping nectar
from a big beautiful
blossoming gardenia

2.
Here is a complete list
of everything that matters – kindess.

I ask you, beg you, please
remember this list.

There will be a test later.

3.
in front of the mirror
a brush
pulling through long hair
eyes, puffy

4.
Here is the complete list
of everything you need to know – love.

5.
naked flesh
cool air
night does not come
quickly enough

6.
I only tell you this, so that you can not say
“I did not know
what i needed to know.
I did not know
what matters.”

7.
a tom cat yowls
in an alley behind a fish joint
“where is she?
where is she?”

8.
Excitement becomes fear
Fear becomes a sick pain
in the place between the bowels
and the stomach.

9.
three squirrels discuss running
through the thick grass
along the tops of branches
up the rough bark
into the holes in the rock wall
over the shrub
inside the attic

10.
The silence between
poems – you know it.

Shit.

It’s love.