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  • Cathy’s Braces

    Only seem to be there when you look for them At first, almost a secret, except for a tiny spring Or needle's point that peeks out from behind What it's supposed to prop up —Or keep back; but these silver snow fences, Once you've located one, The bands and wires are suddenly everywhere, Tensed, unyielding,…

  • Eve

    It was on your father's work bench In the barn that you undid Your skirt: hair, kinked hair Thick as a child's black scribbling, Pink when you breathed And opened. You watched Me watch you. The barn ticked. Pigeons shifted in the rafters, Their wings like prayers as we made Hurt noises and blood cried…

  • CV10

    Walter could almost feel the rush of breath, hear the women roaring, mothers, girlfriends, sisters, sweeping up towards the flight deck, the warm fall day, San Francisco, 1945. A couple chasing a blue jump-suited baby girl just beginning to walk wobbled by him in exaggerated pursuit. He had been alone that day. Hadn’t wanted to…

  • Big Swim

    If you feel around with your fingers       there is a corner to every sin       Upon finding that tight spot       one must remember what to do       Listen            I have been out setting this trap       Cabbage is cheap            Nobody has seen me       if I eat right       I'll grow…

  • Taking Things Into Our Hands

    The earth already knows too much About us. We dig holes And throw ourselves in, Weep, set stones Where no stone would sleep. The mountains, blue yoke in the distance, Are coming down— Rock, bush, slaughtered tree. The sea is washing salt from the bodies Over and over, and without rest. I tell my daughter,…

  • Polygamy

    Small operas, the seedy merchants at the blurred ends of fuming streets in the immigrant photographs, insist on it. What are you supposed to do with desire in America where your heart is so many poor shops? He takes a girl to the Catskills on a bus. Her dull kerchief and the black hairs wire…

  • No Time

    for wisdom bits, I had to act now that father'd suited me up for St-hood. Better late next time.      It wasn't that I minded my toy-razor or lathering up so early, just that the sink swallowing my hairless suds would go all the way to hell and back before it let on there was anything…

  • The Temples of Khajuraho

    At the airport waiting for our plane, we sat next to a Chinese man. He took off his shoe and sock and massaged his foot, working his thumb and fingers over the sole and delicate arch of the instep. Then he held his whole foot between his palms and forgave it, rocking it gently back…