goodbye poems

I read these two goodbye poems at the Bite This! Poetry & Slam Series hosted at Cliff Bells last night.

The Loneliest Place in the World

Stale.
Chemical cleaner
Crying babes
Forced air recycles sneezes
Spreads sleep amidst drone vibrations
Seat belts and barf bags for
Bumps between clouds
Chair back connect stiff knees and
Grumbles with peanut dust
Slip between pages of cheap romance
A napkin and a cup
Ice and liquid enough
To make a line at the back
Twenty minutes later
Crawling over sleeping neighbors
--Sorry--
Open the shade
The sun is bright above the clouds
My heart rises and sinks with
Puffs of white landscape
Beautiful
But not so beautiful
Because nothing is beautiful after goodbye.



Candy

I sit on my porch and try
To stop thinking
But I'm still waiting
In the same place I waved goodbye.

Somewhere children celebrate a birthday
With a paper mache donkey
Filled with candy
Covered in colors
He's blinded, dizzied, and
Handed a bat.
Suspended beast he beats bursts bleeds sugar.
And in that instant
Those children
Are exactly what I was
The day you left.

From my toilet seat I saw
One, then two, then three
Strands of dark curl your
Brush had left behind
I scrambled to find (more)
Traces of you in a
Race against time but
There were only five and it--
[sniff]
But there wasn't enough to
Smell like you
So I threw them away
Washed my hands
Turned and dug them out again
I held them
Clenched them tight
Closed my eyes and
Stood.

I flushed
And did not cry.