Poetry

The Paper Trail I am not competing for a place in history.My name was listed in the newspaperafter being born to let everyone know I had arrived,then report cards came along,rating me from a F...

Emperor’s Concerto, Ocean Springs MS, 1943 My blackened windows are part of the coastalwar defense, or so I’ve been told. Even so,this is no room for sleep. Beethoven’s violins race through the open door of night...

I. Soft, Dead Leaf The night that you killed yourselfI walked down to the clearing whereAs boysWe had built a settlement,As pioneers we cleared the trees,And when the land gasped outWe leaned logs against bouldersAnd...

Archeology Two old men with trowels and a permitdig a strategic trench from just beyondthe base of the tulip poplar to theedge of the mound, where an old etching nowsuggests something lies undiscovered. Theyoften spent...

Devilsafter Ambrose Bierce (The Devil’s Dictionary) Devils want to thrustthe business end of a pininto humanity’s metaphorical eye.They often regret their danceas angels on its tiny silver headand the question of how many.But I know...

Reasoning Reasoning saysWe all have to dieYou sayIt’s a step to foreverI sayHeaven is highAnd I am earth. Reflection Two images remaineddistilled from some human show. A black man hanging from an oak,body limp, head tilted left,devout crowd...

Neighbours while everyone sleepsunder milky moonlightstars coat my eyelashesbody is more than shadowshadows won’t overtakemy mind- trapped ina studio apartment withone filmy window balcony light flickersmy neighbour must be awakemust have a mind like mineor perhaps...

Possible Power Metaphors Looking through her own reflectionat a yellow patterned python,a teenage girl asks why the snakehas not eaten a mouse companionwho, sitting on the snake’s head,grooms her tiny arms. Looking back, maybe seeing doublepossibly...

AshoreIn the morning the scarring world holds me down so I cannot rise.I stretch my arms above my head like elastic bands with no end.My toes reach far below until my calves ache and...