four poems

sticky rice

with an assured finger tip

and a guileless smile

she steadied the dish

and i served myself rice

living off smiles

i’ve lived with love

i’ve lived with just sex

i’m now living with the vague promise of a smile

the deniable promise of an ambiguous smile

something sex or love can never be

or can they?

though she's not mine

i'd do anything to see her smile

it’s such a relief on her serious brow

and in her distant eyes

like over the raging sun a passing cloud

my light across the river

no matter where i wander

and where i happen to go for a meal

i carry your smile in my heart and like a prayer

evoke it before i begin to eat

that moment before you stop pouring the water

and look up at me with your head still bowed

the jug steady across the tables between

all those heads and backs unknown