Poetry

Where I Am White

in that realm, a man of straw can pass for a man. sleep him in the woods on a horse’s skull—skull so he dreams of echoes, horse so his heart learns to gallop. unlearn him the language of his starving mother, pull his shoulders back, and he’ll swagger. he’ll see a blooming meadow and think,…

Liriope

When you were torn from me, summer gleamed like glass and teemed down in hot, silvery,           perfect beads.   And I could not bear to be touched. Not by the silk of skin I was swathed in, not by the rain           which shattered, then regrouped, unharmed.   Rain everywhere like the touch of a man…

First Crush

This was the summer of kitchen stove burners full of tin foil, my family’s women circling esfand smoke around the house.     Our neighbor Mike was still a decade away from raping a woman. I still knew nothing of the pocketed jewelry, the body left for dead.     I still rode bikes to…

visual poem that includes vertical mirrored text, text repeated 5 times horizontally, and text in a circle. Text fades from black to gray.

Blood

after Bobby Chacon     if you see it down the side of my face leave me alone if you see it in my eyes come take a look it’s difficult to rub blood out of your eye & block left hooks at the same time

Defense

—after Bobby Chacon   only criminals                      fight for money           are committed                     to this thing to get money                                         to get enough                     to serve seven years                               & I’ve paid                           & I didn’t have the money                              the kids                               for my crimes     if I didn’t have                   to serve to get money                     my family                               I’d…

It Was Just an Opening

after Bobby Chacon   that’s all it was                                         just fighting   out of my head                                         doing whatever   it took to reach him                                         there was no real plan   it was whatever it took                                         fighting him was it   all fighting no head                                         just to reach that’s all   no head just doing                                         my plan…

Pilgrim Bell

The self I am today. Involves me. As a lake. Involves. Its cattails. It bears me. Tolerates. My cotton.   I would prefer. Not. To be outlived. By anyone.   I reserve the right. To refuse. Enchantment.   The fables I tell. Always end. Wrong. The good archer. Dead. By a stream.   By a…