Trading in Impulses If you were a beacon where would you sit? In the crack of a boulder, the arc of a shoulder? It’s not like a window display. Retail’s large panes, merchandise set aside from everyday use, no want of a museum, theater curtains that gape. Décollage shimmering a wickedly sharp plan hatched to [...]
Surprised by Bodies Tell me why the moon is always a surprise, why the wind sells its secrets under the guise of some shell game that dupes meteors but never the big trees. Or maybe I got that backwards. It is the space travelers who flagrantly pierce an abiding code, one that wills gravity to [...]
How to Tie a Yellow Stimulator* Attach longing to a shiny hook and wind it back to the bend of your elbow. Tie in a small bunch of curly hair so that the tail is as long as the open mouth is wide. Moisten. (Look at the wet beads and notice how they form a [...]
Dried Fruit My pomegranates hide Hard gems float in ruby flesh absorbed by this body a pouch tender to any touch * * * It’s all I got this week. A small poem in response to the Read Write Image Prompt. Find other responses here. Photo credits to Nasos3 with thanks!
The Occasioned Meal It wasn’t that I was in from way out of town, (– A thousand miles? It’s nice you could come visit.) Or that we sat around a too crowded kitchen table, generations: Grandmother, second cousin, thirds, tearing up to recall men gone long, all. A first. Or that it would be the [...]
TEH THEAR-EE OV HATZ It hard even 2 admit dis thear-ee ov hatz, dat 2 wer Teh faithles wan brimmd tite-lee ovar teh eyez— Teh featherlez an dizkreete wan, hat wif seekret koad Dat sez, 2 spoil teh chil’ iz 2 fattuhn teh snake— 2 wear dat hat (imperfekt-lee as carowz carown) agenzt teh sun [...]
A Body of Work #2 I have Grandmother’s fingernails. The last time I saw her hands They were folded on top of her Chest, unnatural, a handkerchief Set decoration, laced and clean, Covered whatever glue kept Them peaceful. Concealed Gnarled joints sculpted by pain. The last time I held her hand I filed her long [...]
The Invisible Hand Pushes levers, works the spin Like carnies at the mall. Bodies are blurs standing Still or in play in ways I could never master. I learn by example, follow The moves of those just Ahead. In this room I can’t Keep up with the boys, they Maneuver and slam, body check My [...]
Traveling Incognito The bus driver drops you Where you need to go Not the stop you ask for. Sometimes you start out with Sneakers and an umbrella And end up in heels and new Lipstick, a shrieking black shine Matches raven feathers, refracts A desert highway one state past. Sometimes you end up at your [...]
On the Bay of Three Sister Saints off the Yucatan Peninsula, January 2000 Swirls beckon, pathed around plastic Shells. Air stings a little, sweet Musky flavors of an old personal Flotation device pressed against My chest as if it were a life jacket. Not as ripe as it could be, but old Salted sweat, others’ [...]