Man in Flames
The man has been
burned out of his
clothes, out of
the wheat field he
was trying to save
when the wind turned
the flames that outflanked
and overran him.… Read more
July 2022
UVALDE 2022
beloved innocents taken
pour red upon our fragile homes
in morning light spilled with guilt
we fret, we cry, we blame
measure the distance of our fall
a too-late urgency… Read more
Not Completely Satisfied
The dress I ordered arrived today
in teal blue, not aqua. And of course
I know it’s not much of a grievance
beside the bodies pulled
from bombed buildings in … Read more
Freedom, Grade One
The first things Ayden is taught
in school is there are a dozen
desks between his and the door
and the best route to take in a sprint
to the … Read more
Intersection
The mountain blushes at the sight
of freedom showing off its underwear
at the corner of 48th and Elliot
where the campaign signs have recently… Read more
No Longer Yours
Dearest politicians,
Don’t call me senseless.
Don’t call me by a different self.
Don’t call me this or that
Or anything else
I can’t stand it,
I have no time—… Read more
Irrelevant Daughters
You’re tied to kin that capture
your heart in moonlight
but your hallucinations
are made up of mechanisms
of distrust, dotted
with purple aster.
Inside a church: shoes
lined up … Read more
Promise Me
that you will put me in a gun
and shoot my loneliness from me
when I turn into a bullet
throw me into a river
so my swimming body can … Read more
SENTIENT POEM
Dear reader, I think
I think, therefore you think I am
like you.
You think that you think, too.
I like you.
I think I love
you and I know … Read more
You Were Right Five Years Ago
— for my daughter on the day Roe v Wade was reversed
In answer to your worry, ratcheted up
by all the world, I offered that the ship
would right … Read more