duh

My father is silent and distant

The moon is up though sometimes

to the side which is also called over there. Coffee is better brewed

than eaten straight from the can.

When someone is dying

we should unpack the clever phrase

I am sorry. Wrenches

the wrong size should be distracted

until the right bolt arrives.

Inside your head is a map

 of your house and inside that map

is where you actually live.

People doing jumping jacks 

look like they're trying to 

start a fire by rubbing

the sticks of their body 

together. Vague nomenclature

is not the correct response

to thank you.  It's surprising

that pencils and erasers get along

as well as they do.  When dogs meet

it's the scent glad not anus 

they sniff. There's the conviction 

in every head that someone else

is happy.  This is why we drool 

from jets at green rectangles

of earth, why when we kiss 

we push hard to reach the pillow

 of the tongue. If we swapped

mistakes they might fit neatly

and with purpose into our lives.

I'll lend you the day I locked 

my keys in my mouth 

if you give me the night 

you got drunk and bought 

a round of flowers for the house.

Whatever my father wants me

to know he tells my mother 

who tells me.  This reminds me

that if I put my ear to the ground

I'll hear the stampede 

of dirt no cowboy can keep

from rolling over my head one day.

bob hicok, my new lover.

oh you darling little poet