Poetry

  • Sea Glass

    In which the receding sea makes Black Beach a mirrorand I’m given another sky, where the green glass like a lozenge floats—rubbed rough and soft—and I feel after a long month of worry           the sea reminding the shard: you’re sand. I roll the glass cleanbetween my hands, dip it into a tidal pool and hold…

  • The War That Starts With M

    Now my father cannot remember the name of the war he fought inseventy-some years ago. When I remind him, he becomes belligerentabout a war that never really ended, and one that could start again. Not Korea, I know that much, son! It’s the war that starts with anM. To try and correct would not be…

  • Another Life

    A baby green anolein the bathtub gripsporcelain whileI shower. Petrifiedsurvivalists, both, wedrip. Used to stillnessin downpours, itmoves only whenI pluck its bodyinto my handsand bend a gentlecage. I’m savingyou from me, I say.Soaked. A prehistoricface pokesbetween thumbs,a spell on the lips—clinging to an ideaof escapethis tiny crisisbounds alongmy lifelinebetween palms likeI’m holding myown green heart…

  • Humans for Scale

    Written in response to works in Description de l’Egypte From point A to point B            the longest distance is travelled bya financier             driven by his craving     for adventure             In the archive of the escapadethe frontispiece shows Alexandria       framed by charioteers city-states to the east and west                a paradearound the ruins      (The ouroboros represents infinity but eventually the snake…

  • Bored Woman at 6 p.m.

    The scent of mimosas and cured algae at the napeof my neck attracts no one but me. The evening’s ammoniclight, busy with free electrons, rinses the curtains to ash.I finger damp calico at my calf and wonder if anyone will begentle to me. Softened by sweat, the calico fissures secretfolds of the vena cava. It…

  • It

    It will not wait for eggs to hatch, or fruit to ripen. Won’t wait for your coffee to cool, bread to rise, or garden to produce. It won’t wait for your grasp to be firmer, or your loneliness to leave you. Won’t wait for you to make friends, or friends to make you. It will not wait…

  • Just Across the Wheel From You

    All winter, I sent letters to old friends turned strangers,ghosts, representations of other eras, statues & facades. I spoke of sobriety & struggle. I spoke of fatherhood& a new masculine energy tended in the intimacy of a circle of other initiated men. Who am I trying to impress?My teenage son calls everybody bro, even me….

  • I mop the floor in joy

    Or try toKnowing someday everyone I love will dieI’m practicing                              Not for death butTo love the labor of my human life           Who canTreasure the broken bone and dishThe house in flame or flood andWhat it takes to fix           I take insteadNotes from smaller sufferingsOnce waking in a guestroom beside the baby disappointedTo be missing a party…

  • Minor Treatise on Separation

    Again, you are the church of what separates wrestlingand professional wrestling. A little money, a lot of folding chairs.What separates knowing how to speak a language and knowinghow to play an instrument is smaller than the differencebetween the blood on my shirt being mine or someone else’s.The French are allowed sincerity, which separates themfrom the…