Word count: 88
Paragraphs: 5
Neeli Cherkovski, NYC, 1985. Photo: Raymond Foye
for Neeli
Irresponsible joy
recycling moods inhaled surreal
what ifs all heart sensitive aloof
picked up maddening static
detained by a friendly hand
laughing and sinking into the most
luxurious eros. What a show off
yawning at the police
A charmed suddenness always talking
alone in the quasi. I am unable
to be sad. You make me believe
I embarrass myself and go to bed early
All these souls jumping
inside and out. I am not asleep
I am only emerging
my broken mask invisible
with a subtler task
Micah Ballard is the author of over a dozen books of poetry including Waifs and Strays (City Lights Books), Afterlives (Bootstrap Press), The Michaux Notebook (FMSBW), Parish Krewes (Bootstrap Press), Selected Prose, 2008-19 (Blue Press), Evangeline Downs (Ugly Duckling Presse), Daily Vigs (Bird & Beckett Books), Vesper Chimes (Gas Meter), and Negative Capability in the Verse of John Wieners (Bootstrap Press). He lives in San Francisco with poet Sunnylyn Thibodeaux and their daughter Lorca.