One Word: flavor

Honeydew. Or perhaps cantaloupe.
Pale green sugar flavored kisses.
Or perhaps, orange-pink nectar kisses
stolen from sun-warmed fuzzy bees.
Oh, there was definitely a moment when they turned the corner
and didn't start down the second set of stairs...
His kisses were sticky black grape flavored.
Pressed up against the concrete. Plum.
Soft, magnetic Opium--Indeed.

One Word: figure

diagram sketched of innards
figure labeled with components
represent once secret inner workings
complex dog machinery

One Word: tower

stairs curl up inside the tower, golden Shirley Temple locks
little girl fingers intertwined with red brick walls
arms intertwined, spin with dizzy merriment, keep time
with the lighthouse beam perched up top
scream "ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"

One Word: ship

asbestos applied, metal folded & pounded & heated
love affairs floating on ships over oceans
cotton string tatted into intricate pattern contortions
reflect the dramatic cardiovascular twists and turns
mimic the splashes and waves from seas parted by bolts

One Word: coat

a fine layer of grease coats your tongue
when you eat fresh mutton roasted over an open fire
who knows how much grease would still be there
if the fire hadn't burned it away
and you can only get it off with cold soda pop
sugary acid and caffeine dissolving mutton fat
washing it down your throat

One Word: discreet

This doesn't really work, but--hey--it's only 60 seconds!
His phone numbers were discrete
so that he could keep his relationships discreet
Each assigned a number
Discarded when interaction curtains drew to a close

One Word: birdhouse

dainty butter daffodils, hollow grasshopper stems contorted by pooled weight of coalesced water drops dripped off the empty birdhouse. canary flexed and drawn to ground-level by gravity. rusty conglomerations trickle down into yellow trumpets, soon to be lowered and splashed on the ground.

One Word: circuit

1970s elementary students run PE circuits
gather beanbags & chalky erasers
deliver them to opposite gym ends
try to avoid slips and splats
prevent huge hematoma lumps on knees
result from smash against white tiled floors

One Word: tray

little bones still held together by tendons and ligaments
connective tissue jellied by days soaked in strong bases
small clumps picked off and dropped onto a worn aluminum tray
slowly, the bones became cleaner, the edges more precise

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
by t. zoey benally

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
Pull out the nanoid stainless steel cog on my Nixon watch
Daily life etched and scratched like happy smile wrinkles onto its face
Stop the second hand, painted sticky Washington ripe apple
Fallen to the ground from Garfield tree orchards
Turn it backwards
Turn it backwards and spin the clouds,
Spin the clouds like crabs, trickling back into the ocean
Receding with the waves
Sunset exoskeleton bellies tickled by taupe sand and blood warm murmuring waves
Sky furling out like a tutu as earth pirouettes back through remembered time

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
Describe the kindness that you shared with me
Minty gum sticks on long, dull afternoons
Sweet powder dusting fingerprint arc,
Loop and whorl ridges as I unwrap square paper scraps
Fine confection, which I lick onto the tip of my tongue and savor
Sugar to power the notes and stanzas of my retrospective songs

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
I will describe the way you restarted the spin of my earth’s magma
How you recalled Fluid Dynamics 101, just in the nick of time, ala “The Core”
I will recount harrowing epics of how you figured out the cryptic manual
For the weapon to defeat ultimate evil and protect life
Just like on the “Fifth Element”
I will chronicle events leading up to the mouth to mouth resuscitation of Christmas
After you stopped the Grinch from stealing it
AND all the presents from under Whoville trees
I will remind the eternally forgetful cosmos how you shifted the equilibrium
And brought balance back to the force
Jedi like in your precision and skill
AND that you had no light saber OR Master Yoda to aid you

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
I will try to mentally capture
And paint Sistine frescoes of your laughter
I will be no more successful than if I tried to lip-sync the humming heartbeat of a mouse
No more successful than if I tried to bottle the white eastern skies bleached by the rising sun
No more successful than if I tried to slide down light quantum arcs, water drop prism split into rainbows
Despite these failures I will persist and I will aspire to paint murals inspired by the color of your eyes
Attempting to capture them in Palouse winter skies at dusk
Espy them in the fielded hills after the plow

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
And they will nod their head
Feign comprehension
Simulate understanding
But they will never comprehend
Remain utterly blind to your brilliance
Never truly understand
Exactly
Precisely
What you mean
To me