Dad listened to his records with his whole body,lay on his back on the living room floor, knees bent,fingertips perched on his ribs.I felt irritatedwhen I stepped around him,annoyed, as he got swept away.But when the babysitter arrived,I made her thumb through boxesof Dad’s recordsto find the one with the man atop a trainon the... Continue Reading →
asleep on a beachseagulls narrating my dreams—ocean lullaby Read More in Poetry
about this piece Fall Colours2024 See More in Art
A rain shower, the wind in the pines,these former joys now bring a bolt of fear.The hurricane has worked its way intomy veins. Shock bleaches the path ahead.We leave the house behind. Not wishing to imposeon friends or relatives, we move from town to town.My employer calls it furlough, leave without pay. The return?Well, now,... Continue Reading →
After seemingly going missing in 1993, in 2016 Richard Hoagland’swife and children discovered he left willingly and had beenliving for the past two decades in another state with another family.In the mornings, the looking glass bore its own imagelike a child.From sounds that had been made beforecame sounds that had never been.From the water came... Continue Reading →
I’ll return in a bitafter another visitto that placethat looks like a deepfield-sized blue greeneye peeringout of the landinviting wonder backinto another oneof my hawking timeswhen I have againforgotten howto speak softnessinto the air around uswhen I am againcaught up in makingmy own facesof vexation, caved inI need to be checked outby that seeing eyethat... Continue Reading →
Burning with the evening sun — a shapeless, scarlet stainI ask you what your name could mean, and you whisper: “Rain.”The city’s drenched and stinking armpits choke me with cellophane.Sweating, gasping, heaving, panting, I keep on screaming, “Rain!”The pitter-patter, splosh and splatter, the pothole-stumbled sprainI ask them, children, “Who’s your mother?” they giggle and say,... Continue Reading →
Maybe the deep southof California and Arizonahas it right.Where cars chewon gas and congestionmuch the same wayour guts do.These are our anxiouscities and regionswhere lipstick cakesstain the sidewalkswith traces of fat and poppy seeds,and women walk with fat pursesmade for self-defense.Where the sidewalksglisten with tinsel,and heat risersthat lift dressespast ankles and pumpsand macrame thigh highs.Where... Continue Reading →
I hear him howlingall through the nightwhy does he howl?is he hungry?does he find himselfalonefinally too tired to searchfor food?are these nights too frozeneven for him?January has two facesthe dark-haired boywith piercing eyesI am my rebel sonthe bearded manwith silver strandswhose eyes still shinesometimesI am my venerable fathertwo heads crowneach one of usthe young give... Continue Reading →
Her first experience was a penetrating itch. This sensation was layered on top of blistering pain shooting from her right head into her eye. It was not the kind of feeling diminished by vigorous scratching, as is the case following a bug bite. Hers was a jaw-clenching urgency to...
