Around Water
Swimming pool children
gleam flawless blonde smiles.
Coffee-colored daughter spirals
outward, opens her eyes
to the fearful kiss of wind
Category / Poetry
One Small Thing
The trash bags had been outside too long.
The gray boards of the deck faded in the sun,
the steps down to the back alley blackening in the shade.
The bags were split, their contents turned
Continue reading… "One Small Thing"My House of Refugees
In the kitchen a stew
of chickpeas and county corn
cassia bark and chicharron
plantain yam
crumbly cheese and bitter asafoetida.
Butterfly
In its cocoon
the promise of the flutter,
the wind’s ride, the wings’ will.
What Comes
Summer’s onslaught arrived
with a dry wind
and a sun, pounding down,
day after day.
The ground, parched,
cracked open.
View from the Bottom of the Hourglass Economy
I can feel past my wallet
almost all the way
to Five Guy Burgers’
big red letters
not today
maybe payday
Archery
The point is what allows the rest of the
arrowhead to enter the flesh of a
honey crisp apple set on the fence post
while you reach back over your shoulder toward
your quill, intent on splitting the fruit in
From Grey’s Ferry, 1999
I’m not sure that what flared
was regulation or if anyone
was on shift or firewatch
or if that ghost-plume after it
was noxious and deadly
but I caught something so violent,
There will not be a train
They never saw it coming,
and there is no other transport.
Angels in handcuffs,
wings clippedclose to the shoulder blades.
Large suitcases left behindat the border
Cinnamon Bun
People are generous except when they
aren’t, so much to either share or envy,
little indifference in between. Thank
you for handing me half your cinnamon
bun and part of the napkin that came with it,