about this piece Boy, You Can Talk See More in Art
Boy, You Can Talk
Other Little Brother
Boy, you can talk.I hear you over the talking heads on tv newswho aren’t saying anything new anyhownot like youwith your fresh eleven-year-old perspective:“The politicians don’t really want to fix this.They just want to raise money and get votes.”I hear you in the van after church: “the Biblesays that Jesus had hair like a lamb’s... Continue Reading →
Two Covid-19 Poems
1.We keep our distance.We need our space.We work in separate rooms,but we can zoomright up to your face.We are building up resistanceto each other. The dietis what you would expect.The streets are so quietyou can hear the silencebuzzing like an insect.We know how to protectour face, our hands, from you,an acceptable level of violence.What else... Continue Reading →
lipstick
the skyan intractable bluepromises nothing buta night of bitter coldi’m not deceivedby the brilliance of fallit’s nothing more than a trick of natureall the warmth implicitin those redgold leaves a liethe smile of a serpentcloaked in temporary beautyabout to strikedelivering the deadly kiss of winter Read More in Poetry
You Will Not
A guidance counselor, parent, or coach,Each utters the same remark, “You will not.”People you believe are beyond reproach,saying to you, you haven’t got a shot.You will not pass the test or make the grade.You will not perform when it truly counts.You will not win the game when it is played.You will not beat the pressure... Continue Reading →
Warlocks, Spells and My Mother
The morning sun was already scorching as we stepped off the bus. The heat rose from the cobblestones in steamy, spirally waves, nearly burning our sandalled feet. Manuelito, my younger brother, said nothing. I wasn’t sure if he knew why we were here, why he’d come along. I said nothing either. What could I say... Continue Reading →
The Falls
Out my old new road, past Rocky’s junkyardoverflowing with rusty cars and barking dogs,round the bend at Ottie’s chicken farm,across the old stone bridge, along a grassy fieldthat winds along a small streamto our falls at old Cross Creek.And you journey here in couples or groups,intent on wading out into my waters,risking rapids, you step... Continue Reading →
Reliquary
Turn left, then right where brick canyons caveInto restaurant rooftops, decaying friezesWhispering city history like Yaxchilan lintels:One crooked alley morphs silhouettes into drain pipes withNight, the magician, molding frames:Harvest moon Saturday rises stoically above ramparts,Spotlights your hunter grey jacketNo longer camouflaged, tilting shadow against railings:Trapped like a saint’s small wisp of hairgets stuck between cedar... Continue Reading →
Warm Nectar
You are the apple I long to bite, apeace luring me past the disquietingdin. I want to taste that sunbeam hiddenat your edges, where no one else goes.Yesterday’s breeze still hankers foryou in the plummeting temperatures;I dream of your dance with warm nectarand the frosted hummingbirds buzzing by.Your flesh praises the gods. Yourjuices, sweet and... Continue Reading →
Book Review: “The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop”
I read this book due to two of my less popular interests: Puritanism and the American Studies/Consensus School scholars. In many respects, my picture of the former is a product of the latter, and they had some important structural elements in common. Both were institution-builders; both have had oversized impacts...