https://youtu.be/B7tL9okYAIg O Lord, methinks I'll call you Lord. Are youAffixed up there on high, or somewhere else?And us lowdown in murk mistaking blueAbove as heaven, hell beneath cool grass.It matters not to me, as I assumeSome gods cannot exist except in dreams,In trifling songs. I guess most folks presumeTo hear from you by way of... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/1bjrT7glY8Y Again with lightning bugs and blooms. The grassA resurrected green that dusk deepens,Enhances even. Blinking, blinking no lessRealistic as mushroom trips, sci-fi zines.The bedroom window cracked, my lover's breathUpon my throat, and Coltrane keening, shriekingFrom down the hall. It's either this or death?A heaven. Hell. Am I to lay here beggingForgiveness of sins? And... Continue Reading →
So we go to this gallery—me, Marie, the kids—and it’s not only what I expect, it’s worse. Awful, pointless, white. Everywhere white, the art and the crowd. “Incredible,” says Marie, in her signature monotone, swiveling her head left then right, which means she approves. “Dumb,” says Mikey, which means that in two minutes flat, he’ll... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/6Ap7AQC5q0s It seems I've always been the praying sort,If prayer is weeping along with FM songsUpon the lonely road. That human heartWill break in slow 4/4; the rights, the wrongsOf childish lyrics; mélange of minor chords.And all those setting suns I've spoken toIntoning grace. Amen. Muttered wordsThat disappeared like smoke into the blue.And birds, blossoms,... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/LPALj7JcpzY A coworker says blackberries and I'm ten againIn that bramble beside the pasture.Tom is barefoot and giggling.Our lips purple from the ripe fruit.I carry daddy's binocularsAnd his sense of impending doomAround my sunburned neck.Mosquito hum. Meadowlark mantra.Far-off rumble of the Memphis train.Our sticky fingers. Our aching bellies.That sky a blueline map of forever.Tom pulls... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/c5_CRotLsBA Once again the wide river recalled. A story, a songAn artery of memory.Coffee-colored from summer floods.Meandering west, as I did long ago.I hear waves lapping from a barge passing.I hear that sucking soundIn the shallows, in the shoals.I hear Granddaddy plucking an old MartinOn Birmingham radio, his high tenor warblingInside the wax of a... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/7jnkdeQLos0 There on the map but vague in my mind.Blurred through the window As we touch down in rain.Rain like some shroud to be lifted.A rain ancestral And singing of pity.This is the dream that will happen.This is how it will all play out.There will be seagulls And pints of stout and my faceAround every corner.There will be... Continue Reading →
It was Christmas 1995 when Mom burnt the bacon and Dad was just getting home. I tore open the packaging to the Mortal Kombat-brand plastic ship and Ray pulled a puppy out of a box. “Ruby!” he announced, holding up the furry dog he’d dreamt of since summer. “Where’s Liu Kang and Raiden?” I asked... Continue Reading →
They say when you fall in love, you give her a piece of your heart. So when things go bad, and she’s gone, you lose a piece of yourself — forever. I agree with all that except I never gave Luz a piece of my heart; no, she took it, pillaged the whole beating bleeding... Continue Reading →
