poetry

  Suddenly everyone’s friendly. We’re working in the front yard, Boyd and I, and our neighbor who’s never spoken to us calls out, “good job!” And now we’re talking. She’s 77. “Early spring,” she says, and then “my grandkids can’t … Read More

  Mother’s tears are sick to death. Father’s   eyes too small to see. Sister’s eyes are somewhere   else and brothers’ eyes believe it. House’s lamps   are out. Cat’s got the dog’s tongue, though he barks all   … Read More

  I sing the girls little songs while every plant in the house dies.   In group, they say into a microphone: “Today we have learned coping skills.” I cannot say “stroke”; I cannot say “the unstoppable swelling of her … Read More

  Cancer is a cancer is a cancer invading Publix check-out lines. Cashiers ask you to make a donation for it. There are 84 movies on IMDb that have patients diagnosed with it, vomiting from chemo because of it, balding … Read More

  pulls down People Magazine asking her friend why J-Lo was wearing “that Cuban flag” during the Super Bowl. I want to tear titles off the front page—Inappropriate & R-Rated the way Pelosi tore Trump’s State of the Union speech. … Read More

  She says: Dangerous for there not to be grass, dangerous for there to be. Every little fairy alive and wiring up. A garbage pull tab is as important as dumb blooms, as lush. Every little last “hey girl” selling … Read More

  The day begins as it always does: with birth control & black coffee. & you have curtains now, so you pull them apart like pages or legs or what have you & your partner doesn’t wake up to the … Read More

  it is helpful to imagine you’re in the woods at night / you have to make it / through that’s all / feel your way from tree to tree / upon hearing the crack / of a twig it … Read More

  I’m asked to keep a secret and I do until I don’t. Until he trusts   me to ration out his pills and when I forget fever sweats hold him as a lover   does when they know you’re … Read More

  He seems lost, although he’s four-square on the trail, maybe an abandoned, lonely male, a yearling whose mother kicked him out to give her time for this spring’s fawns. If you read up   on white-tailed deer, you’ll find … Read More

  While I’m driving I like to fantasize about the people I love   dying in tragic and gruesome ways.   My brother slips off a cliff hiking and they have to identify him   by his teeth.   My … Read More

  One, shadow-faced, gazes at the food, mouthpiece fallen from his slice-of-life lips. Three silver charms   dangle à la beads of sweat from his hat. It’s hot as a barn in the hall. Any musician knows what that’s like. … Read More