collecting stamps
i have rosa parks on one eye
and an apple in the other
and that’s not even counting how many
flags it took to paste my mouth shut,
a whole row of forever sealed with love
to keep me quiet because letters
are filled with absence and whispers
and the check is always in the mail
but even grand central station
can’t keep up with a butterfly
that hovers just this side of blue
and your two cents
well, it will cost a whole lot more
to be heard nowadays
in this world of press on policies
and plastic outrage refusing to fit into
one ounce or seven at quarter past eleven
and the gavel of discretion
bangs down hard on my temple,
this ruin of time so fragile
but not at all hazardous
or containing anything liquid
restricted or red tape perishable
just a kaleidoscope of flowers
for corner decoration and
one way philatelistic passage
when all you have to do
is write
.
.
.