Substitution

by | May 28, 2021 | Poems, Poetry

Substitution Coming to work early you meetthe man on shift before you.It’s funny, he looks familiar,then it turns out you know him.He lives in the blue housenext door, white shutters. He says”Hey, didn’t know you worked here, too.” Didn’t...

EKG

by | May 26, 2021 | Poems, Poetry

EKG The doctors in their white smocks hoverlike priests over the hieroglyphic lines,searching for some omen there. Among those scratchings on graph paper–a computer’s entrails, marks a bird’s footmakes in the dirt, tea leaves, palm lines– one...

Notes

by | May 20, 2021 | Poems, Poetry

Notes On language:Our sixth sense is made out of words. On paradise:Once I believed in eternal lifebut the birds singing in the cherry treesoutside my window convinced me I was a fool. On our war dead:They measure how grateful we arefor the chance to learn the error...
Fossil

Fossil

by | May 11, 2021 | Poems, Poetry

Fossil We looked hard, but none of uscould remember the exact spot.Twenty-three years. Things had changed.Was this boat ramp here, then? Finally, I said, “Near enoughfor government work” (a favorite lineof our dad’s) “The current willbring them together, anyway.” We...