On:

after Karin Gottshall lake superior whispered me into existence, from dream to bodily dream. my body was never meant to be so far from the water. but so it goes. summer of 1997, a year early and a little extra change. my mother was round with life, my father ripeContinue Reading

On:

Elephants and eyelash mites, streams of life, Of heritage both mighty and minute, Existence spies through milky eyes in strife, Cascades in raging sound—genetic root; The song, the strife, the milky streams all end And yet that end comes as a mystery —The wintry absence of breath— You are theContinue Reading

On:

if you ever leave me I’m coming with you pass me the fruit we can shed our old skin I won’t mind the bitter bite the second slice we wasted years not knowing but I’ve always been curved at your side you build the fire I’ll suck the marrow fromContinue Reading

On:

The clock in the hall marks each drowsing hour, and the housecat keeps watch. Tucked under a warm blanket and pastel sheets, I sleep and dream. In the morning, there’s coffee and quiet conversation, here with my family that isn’t blood but family the same. We’ll sit on the porchContinue Reading

On:

Jack and I followed the creek for half an hour. Once in a while we peered past the clumps of bushes and trees along the embankment, frustrated that we could still catch glimpses of picnic tables or awnings or trailers, the glint of trucks or cars or bikes. Soon, weContinue Reading

On:

You say maybe we can’t be friends because you think I can’t express anger. You have a degree in psychology. Anger is important to you. But Anger is a tsunami— a greedy, gluttonous predator— an indifferent drowner of you and me. Anger is an insatiable carnivore, but since you’re anglingContinue Reading

On:

A gorillazooed in a kindly habitatnot quite likeits mountained ownrecently cradled a fallenhuman infant, unused to heightsand jarred from its slipaway from mother’s arms.The gorilla, a mother herself, understood yowling when she heard it. She set the child before the keeper’s gate, assuming kindshould goimmaculate to kind,knowing the bandied creaturewouldContinue Reading

On:

Inspired by “The Cape.” In the wind of the beach, I climbed into the gorilla.  Its skin hung down like an immense human cape.                –Ben Crowley The Ape  My father always knocked on my door. ‘Perchance, the ape is in?’ He opened my door and helped me into theContinue Reading

On:

a found poem, after Giannina Braschi Madmen fear no moon, fear no fire. Burns of flesh are poetry. Madmen’s wounds are poetry. Salt is for fish, salt is for death, the poem is not among the dead. Remember, but don’t write it. sleepwalker among cats, thief among dogs, man amongContinue Reading

On:

It sat precisely balanced atop a high concrete curb along the roadside, this perfect loaf of sliced white bread. How astonishing is that? Such an improbable, yet ordinary, place for such a commonplace thing as a loaf of bread.  But this was no ordinary, run-of-the-mill white bread. It was thatContinue Reading