Circles

i took a ride down to blue
and it wasn't just the way the music beat on
or how the wind knew, just right, how to comb over me,
but i couldn't help thinking back to cold October nights,
warm in my Army-issue jacket studded with my
anarchist declarations and really just jumbles,
the little red car and how fast it could corner,
the smoke from our cigarettes, stale but inviting,
and the way the night never really seemed to end,
at least not right away.
anyway,
what brought me here,
to this country of shine and fast-forward?
it's all new and a little-bit confusing,
and i am better than i've ever been, but still,
i haven't lost the sight of you,
the sight of me back there
-sidewalk drinking and stolen cigarettes,
puffing in the cold.
i don't ask to be taken back again,
and i'm not sure what i'm asking,
if anything,
it's just that i haven't lost sight of you,
of me
back there,
in the little red car,
and it could corner cirlces around me now.

Apfel-Tanz

as far as apples fall,
i could be a little off,
not sure of the branches and leaves
that you stretch,
but it's almost more than i'm steady for.
i think you can trust that.

the waltzes in my head
confuse and dilate,
and every dip shows me more
of the things that i thought i could
blast,
but they come back, they come up,
and they spin me right back
around.
the way your touch has fallen off,
the change in your gaze
-from sparkle-joy to sometimes flat-
and i see it in the way my name sounds
in your mouth,
how when the day is done
we have greeted.
does the dance lift curtain after
curtain
and reveal the chords and mirrors
behind the spectacle?
or does it spin me so fast,
steps i'm learning as i go,
that i distort
reshape
and over-think the rhythm?

as far as apples fall,
i could be a little off.