Reborn
Tasha Klein
Water has thick skin I think
but what would I know
my lips are pressed
against the stone,
I practice to love
with my mouth,
to love language
in its layered richness,
to peel it back
without losing any
verbs or nouns
to float inside,
shed the body,
come out in a
clever sentence,
reborn.
©~Ta§ha~ 2000
Cunning Green Girls
Tasha Klein
Ah! Finally he noticed the green girl
immediately he threw her into
one of his poems (which read
like newspaper articles)
with white roses, no less
men are slow to read between
the lines of cunning women
yet they all want one
I see you in your black
coat on the train
runaway statistics
flashing in your eyes
nose alert for the
smell of salt and
green
It was all much more exciting
when you went through your
black period
powerful, straight, uncompromising
like the NYC skyscrapers
But green?
You can't pull her head
back by her hair and say
beg me
in green..
There is a salad dressing
called Green Goddess
©~Ta§ha~ 1999
the phone call
Tasha Klein
Your voice throws me
back to jagged years
the unpredictable days
before my sobriety
My first mixed drink
was concocted by you
while our parents
were getting smashed
and kissing brass at
the officer's club
We lived in our own uniform,
black converse high tops,
patchouli oil, and velvet jackets
We played the enlisted men
with the same finesse as
we did our air guitars
Now between the lyrics of
Go Your Own Way,
I hear you say,
"cirrhosis of the liver"
and I feel like I did that
night we took the blotter acid
and you decided to run away
No, I don't want your old
poetry books, that would
hurt too much.
They are the children
you never had, in each
one, favorite parts
lovingly underlined
©~Ta§ha~ 1999