Things I’ve Learned There’s a softness to the edges of me—I am both the blood and the gauze, the bone- break...
Poetry
A Real Catch
I’m wearing my lucky pants. Everybody at the post office knows me. Yesterday, when I walking to the liquor store, I noticed somebody peeping through the blinds. I’ve been trying to trick myself into being invisible, but so far, no luck. For a while, I was thinking...
Tree on Top of a Parking Garage
The elevators are all broken, so it’s climbed all five flights of stairs. Catching its breath, it stands by the railing and looks out across the highway to where the sun is turning orange between the clouds and the horizon. The passing drivers see it there and chuckle...
When a House Becomes a Tome
your old house is occupied by another family & has been for years I run I pedal I rollerblade by & imagine you laughing with that high-volume draw & wheeze of yours the time your mom popped her head in the window & nearly scared you half to death I...
Dream of the Rising Sea
I am walking between two loose narratives, connected by a seaside promenade. Rising from dark water, my childhood’s plastic toys and adulthood’s kitchen utensils float near the stony edge. I can’t resist gathering things within reach with promises to use them in my...
How to Be Single
Wear tighter pants and shorter jackets. She was told by a (somewhat) reliable ...
Little Girl
1. Missouri In each place called home, the lovers, the farm with blue eggs, and the calf being born. Learning that the best branches for whipping are from weeping willows. From the backyard you could see for miles, trace the lines of the fences and county, patches of...
The Moment Leading up to My Dad Chasing Me out of The House with a Machete
Now I am not saying he’s a bad man, But there was sweat pouring out his eyes, And he had pennies in the cracks between His teeth and I wanted them all. Maybe I have a bad attitude, but This is a love poem of sorts. The smell of meth seeping out the pores Is probably...
First Date
He said we’d rename every dog we saw because it’s a better game than love. I name every dog after favorite poem titles: I call the golden, “If all of my relationships fail and I don’t have any kids, do I even know what love is?” He nicknames the dog knowledge. I name...
Lunch in Kennedy Park
My wife and I find a table Under a tree whose branches And leaves are fulsome enough To provide us with protection From the rays of the summer’s sun. Delicately we unwrap our burgers As if they might crumble before Our eyes if we weren’t so careful. Reaching for the...