these nails of mine i do not know

belong to whose body & 

the inability to sleep 

in your backyard how the intel world buzzes 

on what i might suspect a quiet Monday morning

planes blast skyward 

a mesquite tree 

twelve disciples click & call to me 

dove and grackle   my angels   my choir

are xmas decorations   evenly spaced

“are you too hot for me?” i say as i slip my thighs under your hot 

bum   breathe   settle   my tum   your buttons   my buns   

blood rises   brain lights up   i pop on the fan with the remote 

night long’s happy dance 

the fan’s safe click like Nanny Enns’ clock 

on the mantle in her apartment on Spruce

i dream   Apache drums   monster trucks  

Vroom Vroom!   (the crowd goes mad)

& fair bear at the state fair   the ones we were gifted

yesterday   though my aim less than fair   duped no one

in the barn we pat 

wallabies   (wanna be)   home   long lashed camels & llamas

children’s eyes grow large when a zebu 

pokes its nose in to their sides   itching for feed

i pat the long faced pregnant looking sheep   whisper 

“don’t worry   it’s the last day of the fair   it’s almost over”

disabled folk rest on their walkers   a child gloats over his new 

stuffed animal   pats it   i ask his folks if i can take a photo 

his mother says “no”   

kids crunch on candy apples   candy floss

in kettle corn air   smell of funnel cakes

zucchini fingers   jalapeños wrapped in bacon lingers

D & me lick Dole Whip cones drink Chub cafe o lait in cans with lids

made by a man from Puebla   town of Talavera pottery 

i think on how this country has been built on the backs of Latino people

i hide enshadowed under my purple umbrella

dump water down the back of my top

run to the can   

my cell pops from my pocket   slides over concrete 

the photos i longed to share with you 

have lime stripes running through them

it’s three degrees with rivers atmospheric in my hometown Deep Cove

four houses plunge into the sea

i hear our neighbour Mike cart away our recycling

i thank the October sun & Mike

o to the generosity of strangers

ps “avoid that part of the backyard 

at night where the dogs poo poo”

people are thinking about me going to phoenix. it’s like they’re going too.
everyone rooting for us. woman from gibsons in airport “watch out for red flags.”

shelby warns of online dating .hacking. getting burned.
you’ve visited me three times now. initially for a week.

you are flung out of space. walk up to the sun. stay in the Gibsons Garden Hotel.
gym. hot tub. sauna. you saw me & my dog Gaia from the ferry

searching for sea glass on the beach. for you. between kelly green sea grass &
diamonds in the sand. each time it gets a little easier. first impressions

favorable. but i am losing my voice. nightly chats.
face timing. blabbing half the blooming night

shedding nervousness. first few kisses tentative. you sleep in the hotel.
switch to my home which suits. in its simplicity. which begs

“why me?” what am i to do with you? obliterate your personality?
hottie with the naughty body. give me one more kiss.

invoke the sun & moon. remember this song on your lips
feel it all over. see us walk around town arm in arm.

i take it easy on the lipstick. i’ll love you a thousand years &
i’ll suck on your rock & roll toes. light blue

if you want to moan, put down the phone. walk into the Arizona sun oh
happy saunterer. let this summer sing in you. let your song out.

what they don’t tell you, will bite you later. i
will bite you later. now who is rough & tough, full of bluff?

the land embedded itself into this rain bird
up up & away

goodbye Phoenix
final wink

mutual notes writing with ladyluck no longer wage slaves the incentive to lie was high freedom is a dirty word dirt is not cheap her heartbeat between my fingers i melt with her cloud seeding o’er davis bay the sea hoodwinked gnats gobble my latte day’s eyes smile blackberries try to bloom the beginning of summer queen anne’s lace skips trips don’t make me kill you lol you are cutting my flesh you talk too much a big fat no under storm washed skies love looks good on you i love love you look younger your hand in mine

city cat turned country cat
lives out of boxes

dreams of missing things

oh my goodness oh my my
the lady in waiting to find a home

‘the dark ages are ahead’ says her neighbour

her younger selves
sit on shelves

she dreams she’s a cow
her feet caught on the windowsill

but in good we trust
we open our joyful windows

“nineteen vancouver city councillors slept outside covenant house
to raise awareness for the homeless”

in her group home on main street
her autistic sister asks too many questions

they gave her valium
when she takes it zero to hero

disappears reappears
the other housemates no longer disturb her

she becomes
herself

the queen of take it easy
on the road to freedom

an ordinary story stored in the body

there’s a frog on her porch
sing frog sing your rain song

call the water of the skies
bring the sky into her heart

her hot water tank does a jingle bell knell

marylee tells her that in thailand a monkey was hit by a car
his monkey mate picked him up & carried him away

the ghost on the coast painter who painted her haus
fucked off with the dough paint peeling on the ceiling

dad says when the sun comes out on the coast
they all go fishing

he asks me if i miss teaching

i ask him “did people say your eyes are like aunty flo’s?
“yes “ he says “i didn’t like that.”

her aunty is down from fifty mg of prednisone to five
aunty injects herself

when city cat stole the thesaurus out of the Windsor High School library
she was preparing to be a writer
but she got the blues

no one bought the books she wrote
no one bought the cds she made

she suspects the eastlink tech stole her eagle feather
with the help of the flying monkeys
& the negative high frequency
interdimensional beings

city mouse has turned country mouse in mein haus

(no animals were hurt during the making of this doggerel
however fb messenger interrupted the writing of it forty three times)