vwinn

[vwinn]

America is Closed

Whereas since before America became America the tired the poor were dragged here in huddled masses now America is closed

Not for repairs or upgrades or network optimization nor a reboot or a rethinking America is simply closed and closed early

If you missed the boat or have been here for quite some time but not since forever or perhaps you were even born here but a little too dark America is closed to you too no land, no opportunity

You are, however, free to go to jail, mandatory maximum for the smallest infraction and if you make it out know that America will be closed better pay to beat the case

Yes, America is closed off for so many of us it's a wonder some make it out or through or even glimpse the promised land at all

[vwinn]

Saturday Kind of Love

I want a run the same side of a record over again kind of love

A love that's neither inclined to flip it nor bothered by re-living the last half hour or so

I want a roll another jazz cigarette to go with it kind of love

She does the rolling and I do the coffee making and sometimes we switch

I want a lay out at the park on a perfectly sunny little bit breezy day kind of love

A love that watches the sun go all the way down then a movie or two at her place or mine

It doesn't even have to last past Saturday night

[vwinn]

Having a Taco with You

What it comes down to is I want to have Mexican food and make out with you

All night if you're down with that we don't even need to put anything on it can just be tacos and chill

And the next day if we miss brunch we can call in some enchiladas which I know sounds heavy but, tequila

We can do it all over again Sunday Funday style 'til it's time to watch a high quality hour long TV show

Yes, all that sounds more fun than spending this weekend alone which is why I'm telling you

[vwinn]

Ode to Breakfast Tacos

First of all it's best to go to a truck or a similarly sized hole in the wall place with no central air or heating

Get at least two on flour with at least two but no more than three ingredients unless it's migas

Anything more than three and you're approaching breakfast burrito territory and that's not what we're after at least not here, not now

Red salsa green salsa pick your poison either way but please no pico

And yeah, you can make them at home or buy them at a gas station in a pinch or maybe even find them North of the Brazos

Just know they won't quite be the same

[vwinn]

Grief As It Occurred To Me

And so a day that must come for all of us someday has come for the best of us now.

What can be said when someone great is gone?

How do we keep living as we do when suddenly we're missing so much of what made us... us, built us up into who we are on good food and genuine affection?

With death there are mostly good questions and no good answers but we ask anyway.  Can we still...? How do we keep...?

Yes, of course , and we must in order to do right by they who longer live among us but within us

Lest what is gone be truly lost

[vwinn]

Singles’ Lament

Living as we do constantly connected attention isn't hard to come by but attention from the right person is less certain

No that's still as haphazard as a chance encounter at a bar or restaurant with someone you know but weren't expecting to see

Subject to a million little reasons why or why not when neither question matters there's just what is or what isn't

And if you're not sure what it is, how it is, the one you want, the one that matters sees you then they simply don't

You'll have to be content to get attention elsewhere

[vwinn]

To Hit It Off (With Someone)

What do you think about things?

About poems about coffee cocktails rent groceries -- too damn high, right? The Good Place Donald Glover Childish Gambino chess backgammon books climate change global warming -- they're distinct and both very real, I agree.

Yes, another round, Amazon IKEA babies, er -- puppies cats fish, fishes? Films movies Netflix -- duh... my place? Now?

Let's get out of here.

[vwinn]

In Search of a Lost Track of Time

Effortlessness

Knowing in your heart and mind what your heart and mind are doing and willingly floating toward danger and disaster anyway because none of that matters in the moment, time itself is irrelevant

Except insofar as the moment the night the feeling must end eventually and trying to delay that inevitability trying to ride that all too natural wave into forever is all you want, and doesn't feel all that far

Away

[vwinn]

Crazy Talk (Round 3AM)

She'd never looked more beautiful and I told her so like a damn fool

It must've been all that sleepy in her eyes and my eyes too

At this point it's past both of our bedtimes

Yet there we were still waiting for something to happen

[vwinn]

What’s Romance Got to Do With It?

Everything. It all comes down to this or that little thing in the end but one thing that can't be ignored in the early going is white hot heat, emanating from deep, somewhere beyond your pelvis but that's about where you should feel it, and the person on the other end has to, has to feel it too.

[vwinn]

Fever Dream

Loving you is like a fever dream from which I wake every morning in a sweat; not cold, not hot but unsure of what's really real

Stuck between wanting to get up and trying to go back convinced it was actually good, a feeling worth chasing,

And it never actually is

[vwinn]

Ghost Me Mami

I'm learning to read between the unreplied to texts, no read receipts needed

Sporadic responses are better than none but do us both a favor just ghost me

Because clearly I can't let go

[vwinn]

Nostalgia Old Fashioned

To be honest I don't think about you all that often but when I do my mind goes straight to the sex we could've had

A cocktail made up of equal parts nostalgia and fantasy and regret mixed in that order briefly stirred

So close I could hardly fail to make it happen and yet I failed to make it happen and it would've been good, I think, but now there's no way to tell

[vwinn]

Human Nature

The one you want is so rarely the one who wants you such that when the stars align and it feels close enough and there's comfort and plausibility you go with it and go with it and go with it til death and you promise and swear on the Bible until one day, any old day, your love changes and it's so hard to get out and undo what's been done over and over and over day after day year after year it's a wonder we even keep trying to get together at all

But we keep trying, it’s human nature

[vwinn]

Cold Shower Season

100, 100, 99, 100, 100

A lift, a lift, a swim, a lift, a lift I worked too hard all winter to let this summer body go to waste

Poolside, poolside hikes with no shirt mosquitoes be damned

Back home, quick strip slightest turn of the handle, just enough to get the water going

Three, two, brace for impact shock, shock, breathe, twist shock, shock… relief

A kind of cool not even air conditioning can pull off

[vwinn]

Ode to PB&Js

One slice of bread Lightly toasted

Smooth or creamy Chunky or crunchy if you're nasty, Nothing wrong with that

Grape jelly Or strawberry jam if you must But no peach preserves That's another poem

Apply each Thin and evenly Half and half Fold, press Enjoy.

[vwinn]

Ode to Peach Preserves

Like grandma used to make With real peaches, tangy sweet,

Like grandma used to buy Just sweet but still good,

Like grandma used to have With her coffee sipped on a saucer,

Like grandma used to serve On butter on toast next to eggs and sausage

For breakfast during the summers When mom and dad were at work

And there were chores to be done Out in the yard later

But not much else.