Filling in the Blanks

on the roof
with the sunset
i watch the hills
go gray
and think about
the wisps of colorless hair
that surround your face
in the picture i know
so well

your expression frozen
in the photograph
doesn’t tell me much
but i’m so good at inferring
and assigning my own meaning

i decide
that you are kind
and humble
and funny
and sweet
you are all the things
i want you to be
all the things
i hope for

in my mind
you are everything

but in reality
you can only
be you

Naked Chef

I’m cooking you dinner tomorrow
using a recipe my friend gave me,
because it’s easy
and fast.
I’m a novice.
I have to build confidence.

I hope that when you come,
you will judge me kindly,
you will allow me
a few mistakes.

And if my chicken should be chewy
or my sauce a little bland
please consider this:
that it was made
with love

and that whatever
kitchen skills
I lack,
I make up
in the bedroom
ten fold.

Roof Dwellers

in the evening
the neon yellow
crucifix
atop the church next door
goes bright

the twelve-steppers arrive there
for their meeting
and smoke 1,000 cigarettes on the sidewalk

the street is full
of people I don’t know
though I’d like to know some

or just one

i look across the network of
rooftops
in the increasing darkness
straining
hoping
expecting
to see another restless being
atop a building
looking back at me

if you’re there
shine me a light
do it in morse code

so no one else
will understand