You’re kept in capsules on the bathroom counter, a synthetic strain of vitamin A, sealed for potency. Your purpose is to shield the face from signs of aging. Over-the-counter lacks the power existing in medical grade— though too much, over time, can blur the vision, incite a kind of skin-peeling condition or frail the bones….
Before your birth, I marked you as my own, the way I marked your mother before hers. Inscribed on every cell of every bone, the standard of my family never blurs. I coil between the makings of your bed and in the small hours whisper you awake. I poison every sentence in your head and…
Down at the beach. The lake trying to wash the moon off its back. The moon trying to ride the horse of the lake. Me lighting a candle and sticking it in sand. Another. Making a circle for the wind to burn its fingers on. For the moon to read a flickering elegy to itself….
well—i suppose we could spend more time pretending i bought a new suit for carnegie hall—bought a new suit for the occasion, bought a new suit with dues from paris yes it’s true, he pays a price for an america which still leaves a balance. well—i have a future held in the lungs of this…
We were downing cheap red wine at a bar called Library Books free for the taking The carafe like a blood-filled IV bag I opened a book on palmistry Lifelines When my words began to slur you took me to Mickie-Dee’s A ghoul was there and the grim reaper Masks on…
It is not my birthday but today I walk by the cold shrubs of my town’s finest lane popping birthday cake jelly beans into my mouth one by one. How spectacular, the way we’ve reduced an event into a little waxen egg! It is speckled like a robin’s egg; pink, blue, yellow, orange. It even…
Translated from the Spanish by Pablo Medina A man and a woman walk down the street laughing. They make plans. They had a grand time in the hotel where they made love and they laugh, make another date for tomorrow. Life is wonderful. Tomorrow he’ll be laid out in a funeral home one hour…
One father culled talons from an eagle’s claw and strung them around our necks. Another father watched a dogwood tree burn slowly through the night. The yellowjacket froze in the space between our faces, two numb fingers brushing the edge of a sharp tack. You spoke softly—each word blinking hard then opening wide its soft…
I’ve got an arrow here. Loving the hand that sent it I the dart revere. —Emily Dickinson If it is attention that condemns me, then attention may absolve me: you pierced me cleanly, the hollow daylight proving I never flinched, a movement which implies anticipation. I held still. I held on to another love. I…
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