Two Sonnets

Sonnet (61)

Quiet as a candle
quiet as a herd of drugged livestock
my sunflower I wish I were home
lay it down thick cat
in the hot bed in the hot box
low ceilings going shopping
with women who wield femininity
as an institutional weapon
scorched earth real letters of what
dull complaints. Too honest with
the crossing guard again took my
arm without asking. What’s her
problem. “She needs a tuneup,”
he said. Confuse friendship with