Table of
Contents
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WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BROOKLYN
Black
white
Latino
Asian
as my father said
it takes all kinds
to make a world
sure
we come complete
with
sirens wailing
subways fraying
landlords taking
cab drivers
honking their
proverbial
horns
suburb
it ain’t
but people star
instead
of cars
bridges talk
instead of walls
what I like
about Brooklyn
is how
people sit
on their front stoops
at night
when the moon is full
instead of
in their
backyards
CHRIS BUTTERS
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JUSTICE
Caressing
the usual breasts
the obvious thigh
but also the forgotten places
the ignored places
the looked down upon places
like small towns
the freeway
has bypassed
in the rush to get to
where we are going
and yet the traveler also
needs to spend time with
also needs
to explore
bringing them
into the swing of things
the back and forth
the circle of praise
the valley
of the underarms
the loneliness
of ankles
the zone of
lines and wrinkles
the republic
of ear lobes
amid the kissing
and the cuddling
the stroking
and enfolding
the making love
doing justice
to them
also
before we
come
CHRIS BUTTERS__
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GARDEN
Yesterday
it was she holding
the wounded kitten
to her breast
as if it was a child.
Today
it was me tossing
the green salad
in the kitchen,
as she hammered
the screen door
on its hinges.
The days pass
like tomatoes
in the garden.
But if I could just
figure out
what triggers
these erections!
CHRIS BUTTERS__
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NEW MEXICO EYES
For Bette
That was a good vacation,
you say,
on the plane flight
home,
it was, I say,
and it is not over
yet,
tomorrow,
we will wake up
and go to work
in the morning,
walk in our own
canyons,
past the skyscrapers
of our own myths,
tomorrow
we will wake
and go to work
in the morning,
read the news
about our troubled tribe,
catch a different kind
of petroglyph,
tomorrow
we will wake
and go to work
in the morning,
so many missions
to run,
and such little space
to squeeze them in
with only a dazzling
tapestry
on our wall,
bearing the colors
of the mountains
and the chile peppers
and the earth
and the sky
to remember
the spirit of the place,
this wonderful time
we have shared together,
but we will see everything,
we will see everything
through New Mexico
eyes
CHRIS BUTTERS__
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