The Swamp and Its Masquerade
Where life appears as death in still disguise,The sundew droops, the cypress stands in gloom,A frog clings mute beneath the leaden skies,The gator floats -a log... Read more.
Me As A Cog
in morning light I load boxes onto a truck to be delivered to distribution centers far from here I do this fifty hours a week sometimes more at the same dock sweating... Read more.
Everything At Once
A friend died the same day another friend gave birth. I was all commiserations and congratulations, and the former were clichéd and prosaic and the latter... Read more.
A Writer in Iowa
I’ve been down a roadwith wheat stacked on both sides,so I thank God for the scattered hillsand the small town wedged between them.Not that I don’t appreciate... Read more.
A Man in Ted’s Position
"The man in the next bed died last night,"are the first words out of Ted’s mouth."And the guy in the next room early this morning."To Ted, it's more like a funeral... Read more.
Nostalgia for Dummies
White Impala parked on a side street,blue Chevy Malibu at a drive-in theater –the images are as useless asa box of condoms to a dead man.But here they comeout... Read more.
Outside the Temple, Waiting for Christine
So this is what waiting is all about,pacing before the temple,pretending comfort on the concrete steps,admiring the marble tripod,the entrance flanking sphinx.I... Read more.
Beth and the Coffee Cup
Your hand can really wrap around a cup and tighten.Be thankful it's not your throat.Long after you've drunk its contents,you feel for insight in its smooth china... Read more.
If I Wrote Poems Like I Grocery Shop
The first line would always be frozen pizza.The second would read two gallons of milk,one box of raisin bran.The third would be yogurt, one fruity, one plain.The... Read more.
This Vacant Lot
The lot’s not really vacant.Weeds grow aplenty.And so does broken glass.And empty syringes.And used condoms.There was even a dead bodyfound here once.A homeless... Read more.
Jane and the Raven
Two weeks before,a raven penguin-walked slowlyalong the trail in front of Jane.clutching a broken wing at its side.In exhaustion, it finally fell.Above, others of... Read more.
A Dairy Man Remembers
From the house to the barn,it was something in those days,squeezing milk from fifty teatsinto buckets.Some cows hated the touch of hands.Others just got sleepy.One... Read more.
My Parents Go In Swimming
White slow-turning lightcan see the foaming shoalsso why not the swimmers from fifty years ago.It warns off the night boatsbut why not restore the oneswho... Read more.