Vortex by A.J. Kaufmann

does it really all work like a vortex?
this Engbers shirt
& Man of Town jacket
make a perfect pair of moods…

double dare the observer
& nail him down
with a pink Shoa scarf

so choose a straw for the lady in question
question the answer
in tall frozen glass
frame
while talkin’ quite loosely…

on conversations like these
I wish I had a label for
myself…
a price to stick to
a trademark to rely on
a product
to sell her

wish my poems were as good
as the blank morning sky
clear-blue-swifting-
arranging
itself
anew

wish I could tell her about them
wish I could quote
myself

wish I had a bucket for my soul
& a casket
to put my eyes in
a coffin
to call it a day
& good ole cross
to hang on

guess it really works like a vortex

guess she’s leavin’
this very
moment

renewed every morning
but still in the same-spot
condition

troubled & trapped in verse
but never as clear
as
the
sky

thus
never
true
or sold