Half-Recovered

Tired Hecklebey: this was my uncle’s name.
His face was the red blown-up balloon of youthful morning
Made grotesque because he wore it late in the day. I work
All day, he liked to say and throw his hat in the air,
Missing the coat rack by several feet. Old Hecklebey,
We can’t even remember what he did for a living.

Though his wife was a piece: this is what they said.
Who said? The men who saw her in jean shorts, leaning
Sexily on the shopping cart at the P&C. Mind you, his wife
Was my aunt. Don’t talk badly about her. Her life was long,
Long and lonely. She made apostles and angels and even the Christ
From paper cutouts. She was a Christian woman who carried a camera.
She never showed her photographs to Hecklebey; we think
There was probably good reason for this.

I’m reaching the end of the poem. I don’t know. I can’t think
Why I summoned these ghosts from the cellar: my memory. Only
I am being selfish for making you listen to me. And selfish to them,
My Uncle Hecklebey and his wife, my aunt, whose desirable red flesh
Has grown around, thereby covering up, her name, for asking why I
Should let them live. Surely, you agree, they shouldn’t vanish as easily as that.

Cosmetic Dream

Having woken, I found that I was not wearing makeup.
Yet, why? Had the dream not been mine, I might have been
More eager to read it for its symbols. Had the dream not been
Mine, I might have found the dream poetic. I might have explored
The possibilities of meaning: I had a dream in which I woke up
From a dream to find I had painted my face in my sleep. Lepor!

The dreamers’ dictionaries told me I was hiding a more true identity;
Also, I may be looking to redefine my persona. What persona?
Lepor! You are as real as your fingernail. Do you know how I know
That my fingernail does indeed inhabit the sacred space? Because,
When I clip it, the nail divides into a piece and a part. One, the larger (part),
Continues to mask the pink, sensitive flesh; the other, the flying crescent (piece),
Ends up beneath the kitchen table, with dust clumps, crumbs, and shadow.