An accident at first, her husband gone to work, her stranded sans remote atop the treadmill, two miles still to run. And so, she watches. The volume low, she notes how still it blares; above, a comedy reel the feed below: The snow will turn to ice by morning. Senator ready to deal. And on…
I walked around the thrift store like it was a museum. Looking at the details of yesterday one footstool at a time. I passed the posters of World War II era, the ones in which Uncle Sam points at me. The leisure suits as brown as new spring dirt. I found albums that completed someone’s…
Clanking chain, the claw that snags, the boat wind-bumped beside the Bat Islands I heard as bad, chop-tossed in my bunk all night I didn’t sleep lost in fear forged from everything I didn’t know and don’t, hear anchor and think anvil heavy under hammer and spark. Say spark and I hear fat rain hissing…
What if we could get rich From experiences What if our time In exotic places Or even a walk in the woods Counted as valuables Raising our net worth in joy We could display Our adventures like jewels Laid out on a velvet cape My trips to Italy Could have bought a house My bliss…
I am writing the poem of anger, and it has never been so easy to write a poem, but when I tell the poem to slow down, take it easy, he leaps from the desk, races down the stairs and out the door. Now the poem of anger is running through crowds of people hurrying…
The team of dermatologists stand at the end of her bed, peering at her ravaged skin with benign expressions on their faces. They are leaning forward at an alarming angle. Maybe their shoes are filled with lead, Louise thinks. They are grounded and seem to move in unison. She definitely can’t see them flying anywhere.…
In the lobby, after the show, “Dad,” you said, and touched his shoulder. That was all I heard, or needed to. I sat here once, your fingers said. I saw the world you showed me. The view was what it was— a bay, a bridge, a vacation or two. Perhaps a parade or a just-reached…
It was exciting to be in Spain and traveling with Ava. In truth, it was exciting to be anywhere with Ava. We walked arm and arm, wandered into charming cafes, and took in all the main sights. We were at that stage in a relationship where it was new enough to be filled with wonder…
She picks a conch shell out of the pile in the terra cotta pot. Thousands of miles from its home and still the shell spills sand from its center. She wants to crawl in, cup a beach in her hands. Listen to the prose of the ocean— Tell me about your emptiness. Tell me about…
1 My daddy worked as a shipping manager, packing train cars with odd-sized boxes of furniture. He filled every speck of space, arranging the cartons like shapes in a puzzle cube. Daddy could stuff a pregnant cat into a shoe box if need be and bury her neatly in the ground, lined up with the…
