"Reconciliation and the Ambiguity of Gratitude" and "A Talent for Legitimacy"

Reconciliation and the Ambiguity of Gratitude

I'm listening to some white soul
on my front porch swing.
The seat is attached by
a sturdy metal loop.
There is some rust beneath.
Across the street Mrs. Pascale sits.
I'm sort of caught in-between a wave,
lifting my arm then lowering it quickly.
Not quite achieving eye contact just yet.
She's out here all day when it's nice.
If I remain patient I suspect we will screw.

A Talent for Legitimacy

Episodically craved by adolescents,
Prometheus displays his tats
behind The Dollar Store in Bonita.
The one with the plastic pillars.
Chained willingly to a picnic table,
he effuses in atmospheric cigarette smoke
shirtlessness his apparent esthetic.
Peers immersed in forsake-me-not hygiene
crouched in even more uncomfortable positions,
strain to catch a glimpse of his epithelial gland
visible through tiny filaments of foliage
like a conceptual umbrella or soluble shade tree.