Intimacy After Countless Disparate Endeavors.
david//mcnayr


calico twins.
presence and curiosity,
calico twins giving
eskimo kisses
inside the amnion
sister, your whiskers,
your arching back,
my paws cleaning your ears
will the light first hit your eyes or mine?



posing closeness.
her one hand brushing me with
rouge and pale powder
when was the last time
fingers held against my lips,
not just your's, but anyone's?

can i pretend there is more
than just you holding a
camera, modeling with
my hands on your legs,
touching our noses
kisses on the forehead,
just poses for metered
choreographed expression.



no small talk.
his hands brush my forehead
sweep the back of my neck
his fingertips tip my jaw to the side
and hold down my ears away from

the blades, few other strangers
could become so closely acquainted
handling me with such propriety

my hair, three months long
he collects with a broom
from the tile and whisks it
into the garbage can.



tête-à-tête.
it was nightfall when first
we pressed our faces
against the pane of glass
crafted with slight warps
and chipped over the years,

you on one side
yellow street lamps
crowned your dark hair
a curtain over the wavering
glint of your eyes

me on the other,
and as i tried to whisper,
the warm breathy fog
obscured your face, so i
drew a few words in it,

backwards so you could read.
can you read it back to me?


..lovesliescrushing..
if we were to have met
when both our heads
were drifting behind
starry-eyed sleep

a picnic on the rings
of saturn, rendezvous
in the clouds, invisible
wings floating breath.

if we were to have met
where both our hearts
were slowing to keep
in time with each other

a tranquil river, baths
of understanding, never
teetering on the edge
holding nothing underwater.

if we were to have met
how two are meant to,
making meals to share
perpetual affectionate renewal

there wouldn't have been
such a lock on the center
of our apparent connection,
hidden from grasp.



verizon longing: ill b thinkng of u <3.
to J--- Sep 25, 10:12 am
really wish i wuldve hrd frm u lst nite
memories of u still ovrwhlm me
when i let them catch up 2 me.
how’s yr hand doing?
i wish y’d leave th walls alone.

frm J--- Sep 25, 7:19 pm
im not ignorng u but
its all so bad for me
rite now.

erratic 4 days
barely restng

i shuldv nown betr
nnow its all very messy.

i think of you--
fondly ofcorse,
but also qyt frankly
w/ a sense of profound
sadness, wich
4 wotevr reason

has me feelng trubld.
i wl cal u thisPM 2 takk.

PS
my knuckls r bruisd;
also i smackd the
(granite) countr
dayb4 ystrday
&my wrists r blk&blu;

hurts way worse than
the wall punch.
fuckng poor shape
ur sweet 2ask.

Three Alliterative Exercises

"inheritance."
//david mcnayr

heart attack, folded into sheets
holding fingers with fingers,
sorting through hundreds of thousands
of faint, pale storybooks
hardly seeming to fill the empty
spaces between the walls
filing away several crossed throughways
the stuffy heat of the attic
the heavy musk of the cellar
thick dust over covered furniture
echoed footsteps shuffling through the hallways.

"christmas after roast beef."
//david mcnayr

dry bread, tacky golden and pink
princess outfit, dress up cook
baking and clacking around
the kitchen, feet too small
for grandma's tall heels,
dragging her cane across the plastic tiles
as she dozes waiting for the buzzer.

"snap crackle pop."
//david mcnayr

license to kill small game
mice milling in the walls
munching on little morsels of
motel pillow mints:
modern rodent medicine
laced with pellets of
permanent painkillers.