induction

cramped on another bus,
I catch my own breath
mingled with these other transients'
and wonder if I'll be clean again

I can hardly believe it
with the way these clothes cling to me
overlaying the marks of teeth and tongues
I can't shed

no matter what else I change
they lay so close to me
that no contents are hidden

the last few coins
hoarded and worn
loose ends of tobacco
and the many scars from falling
the words I can't form
and the wishes

the things I want
and how I want to be made clean
forgiven
to stand in the silence of your smile
and be made still

jenny

maybe it was the motorcycle
that first set me off

the way it gave you entrances like a valkyrie
a roar I'd hear echoing off the buildings
long before your headlamp burnt the road at my feet
the power to escape temporal things
leaning into the wind
taking corners in the palm of your hand

but it's dresses that hooked me

the way they implied fields
and the first fall of apples
an ease with the earth I've never felt

they gave me this idea
that powers higher than your engine
or my legs
had given it some thought

and figured out a way
to clean the city's dirt
from a small pair of hands
and give a voice
to the grass, the trees, the wind
and the pair of wheels
which marked the asphalt where I stand