On:

The Dandies’ first Christmas in Peacock Lane was the year the decorations came to life / The elves were the first to turn against their homes & scale attached garages & chain linked fences / They chanted dark poetry from the wires around their mouths / Reindeer who used toContinue Reading

On:

The Dandies bought the house from a nice goth couple who just couldn’t with Mrs. Peacock Lane / Her campaign against them also began on move-in day & they both worked so hard at keeping up their own appearances the decoration subcommittee took advantage of their missing cats to poisonContinue Reading

On:

Cats abandoned Peacock Lane generations ago / There have been many attempts to re-introduce cats to the neighborhood & they always agree to leave / The HOA meets every Fifth Friday at a subcommittee chairperson’s house & is expected to be fed & watered with seasonal fruit & watercress sandwichesContinue Reading

On:

She was a delight at her school dances but an absolute terror at the salad bar / She cleaned & reupholstered her designer handbags every weekend & spent her husband’s money on shutting down fundraisers for causes she couldn’t understand / Her hair was always out of fashion but framedContinue Reading

On:

The Dandies almost ran a clean campaign against the chairwoman of the decoration subcommittee / They handed out red white & blue roses with little life hacks written around the stems like spells / Carry a pinch of salt in your back pocket for good luck & say aloud theContinue Reading

On:

Gosh what a couple of egg heads those Goths were / A real match forged in cartoonish annihilation / They were the talk of the neighborhood for the better part of the season & shook all the pine needles down to weave baskets for their Chinese-crested named Thing / ThenContinue Reading

On:

The chunk of flesh lies there.It’s pink and still,No longer throbbing or feeling.The thigh that birthed it is oozing,Pumping, still alive. The man sets the knife downAnd prepares the pan and herbs.Taken away from its origins,The meat is no more than a blob,A collection of cells,13,355 calories, more or less.Continue Reading

On:

PADUA, ITALY 1844 Curious young scholar from NaplesWandered into a fertile private gardenHe first saw through his guest bedroom window.By an unusual purple shrub with botanical gems, an exquisite bloom stood Slender, alluring, barely comingInto womanhood. Her scent,Cloying like lavender. Her touch,Lethal like aconite. The maiden Her famous scientist fatherCalledContinue Reading

On:

I follow the trailthrough the angry treesas the wily wind whips leavesoff their skinny armsand throws them to the ground.The trail is littered with gold and brownobscuring the path.I am lost in a storm of coming autumnand do not knowwhere my footsteps should fall–enveloped in sunlight and cold–alone beneath theContinue Reading