picture this: it is early morning,south of somewhere familiar,south of somewhereyou call home.there are power linesrunning down dirt roadswhere dust never seemsto settle unless it rains.there are grey birdsflying skyward,towards destinationsyou will never reach.and you are there,driving alone in a car,a casual witness to thiswhich you’ll neverunderstand…but you are not there.you are here with me,with... Continue Reading →
yet again, the season changes. winter dies, spring is reborn. worms crawl out for sun. birds return for seed. grass grows green. flowers bloom. people smile. the cycle repeats, ad infinitum. ink on pages lasts longer than the candle I was born holding—help me savor things that matter most before they’re gone forever—the worn maps of memory… the tired paths once walked… the... Continue Reading →
For a few hours, white snowfell before nightfall; then raincame and washed it all away.The lone streetlight on thisdead end street, the one thatoften makes the poems, makesme think of Weldon Kees andhis porchlight coming on. Myneighbor, a miserable man whonever waves, whose name I willnever know, called the electriccompany about the streetlight’sstutter, about its... Continue Reading →
Caribbean blueLindt balls speckledwith salt clusterby the registerat the co-op,the grain of oceanic sandfinishing the sweet—(the ocean itself blaststhrough nostrils,a wavy hand downthe throat—)a chocolate spherethe size of marblesI once collected,playing for keepson a playgroundwhere success’s daily sweetness mixed with teary salt. Read More in Poetry
My third dog is almost a good running dog—he only dawdles a little at good smells,glaring from the corner of his dark browneyes when I want him to move on too quickly.The others before him would stand their ground,refuse to keep going or run out at a mad dashfor a few blocks and then tire,... Continue Reading →
The Giver of Light looked at the images of the tears under the microscope. The tears of grief remind her of a terrain strewn with mountains and hills. She viewed the next image and made note how the chemical composition had a natural painkiller called leucine enkephalin. It was time to descend. This cannot be... Continue Reading →
The first thing to go is always sleeping late and befriending the snooze button, that insidious invitation to cradle the coversjust a little longer. But what if staying in bed isn’t always about delaying the day’s drudgery so much as soaking in the silenceof the dog’s curls cuddled up to your chin? Sure, that might... Continue Reading →
The grief counselor informed methe free-trial subscription periodwas ending soon, and it was timeto decide — enroll or cancel.Eventually, it all comes ‘round,you said misery loves company,yet the company closed up shop,packed it in, left town, no notice,not even a lousy fire sale,not even for heaven’s sake,just flashes of light printsdimming as they walk away.Nothing... Continue Reading →
A little girl sat at my table,surprising me, opened a padof paper and packet of markers.She drew a tic-tac-toe boardwith assorted colors like a rainbowflattened into bold straight lines.She made a black X in the center,tore it from the pad then pivotedit to me. Your turn, Mister.Could this be more awkward?A grown man playing a gamewith a girl of 7 or 8... Continue Reading →
breathing in the rain,she felt the watercollect on her skin,clinging to herlike a rose petalholding on untilthe very last momentShe closed her eyesto remember a young girlrunning, jumping,stomping into a puddleto watch her reflectionburst into piecesto join the sky,the river, the ocean,ancient and foretelling More from this Author Read More in Poetry
