No flashing Vacancy sign here. I am not required to grant entry to everyone who rings my bell and attempts to sign in. I don’t have to entertain harmful idiocies of the flower bearing or forced entry persuasions. I sit behind my counter knitting neurons into ever better clusters based on my own boldness. I sometimes drop a stitch or two but am usually pleased with the patterns that emerge. I’m not above ripping out a few rows I thought were precious when I realize they feel uneven.

my mom used to always be obsessed with her perfectly formed feet these days it’s all she can do to look down and admire her shoes I sent her a new white pair one shoe with a red rabbit the other with flowers she won’t remember who sent the shoes or how longs she has had them but she’ll smile and tap her heels together and giggle like a second grader Cinse Bonino 2023

why is it that we wait for a lover’s eyes to pull our beauty to the surface where we can see it? why isn’t our own gaze enough to awaken joy in our form and substance? let us be self-portrait artists finger-painting our carnal selves with appreciation let us spit out our doubts and guzzle instead the heady concoctions we are Cinse Bonino 2021

fear is a mind fucking earwig that cuts deep grooves in your cranium as it speed skates its way through your gray matter resentment is an angry group of war mongers that stomp across your chest determined to kill the peace in your heart joy is a cleansing shower that rinses away the dread that turns your blood to mud clogging the flow of hope to your soul Cinse Bonino 2023

(for Walter) a stark photo of an almost unrecognizable man lying and dying in a hospital bed turned out to be Walter who once delivered delightfully irreverent edgy jokes and local gossip in his gruff voice as our laughter met in the air and small pieces of my hair slid to the floor down the stiff plastic cape I and all the dark skinned ladies sitting in chairs nearby wore his eyes and mine sparkled as they found each other in the giant mirror my heart recognized the tenderness of this throwback man who brought to mind the image of powerful men from my childhood who bowed their heads obediently to their mothers

before you stop riding your bike before I wear my ugly mittens that keep my fingers warm Cinse Bonino 2023 #winter #winterfashion #winterweather #biking #mittens #coldweather #cold #poetrycommunity #poetry

whiter than white eliminates wrinkles good to the last drop and somehow convince us if it doesn’t work it’s all our fault Cinse Bonino 2023