on digging graves:

i'm terribly sorry

but i'm fresh out of marble.

this fire's been drinking and driving

summer 2009

you hate having your picture taken

and i like that about you

so i'll bring the camera

and we'll develop our tragedies together

in a dark room we call 'the last seven years'

laced with innocent nights spent on your bed

and arguments some serious, some less severe,

these prints will show your eyes and nose

so hardly insincere.

let's go back to that place once more

where we used to take time while

your mother patched my clothes and we

made hours last doing only Lord knows.

black and white semi shiny squares

depressing and somber and grayish in tone-

i'll snap some keepsakes of us together

before we both die alone.

tom loves life

august, 2006

forest lake, minnesota