black forehead smudges
I wish I could believe
so proudly

we don't repent
but we put on our faces
that we did

mark on our foreheads
remind us
we are all the same

tiny crumbled
ashes slashed
across their foreheads

top quarter champion

TOP half Chamption

bottom quarter champion

mother calls
remember, Wednesday, Lent
cheeseburgers for dinner

40 days
40 nights
without ice cream

parents gone
for another mardi gras
their turn to be kids

a father
wipes away ashes
and leaves for work

TOP half champion

CHAMPION
 

BOTTOM half champion

peacocks celebrating
in the nude
plucky and proud

no make-up
she is barely
herself

shouting and screaming
in our drunken stupor
she lifts her shirt

silly boy
up on the roof top
he yells

top quarter champion

BOTTOM half champion

bottom quarter champion

gold
purple
green
bring out the masks

put on your mask
violet and green
to forget the night

enticing
I want to see her
without the mask

masked eyes see through me