Waitress’s
Two waitress’s at IHOP talk
vaccinations between Swedish
pancakes and Denver omletts.
Talk about their kids...
what ails them now, while walking
platters, scraping change
and worn dollar bills
into no...
your name in the bamboo grove
once
deep in green bamboo
the swaying stalks
thick with delicate leaves
joined their lofty spires
high above our heads
conflicting sun
shattering its urgency
into blinding streamers
tendriling down
torquing between the wind
swayed...
trinity
koi pond fish
papaya hued
glows like burning coal
a drawn out ember
orange under blue
skinned water
swims through tree limbs
kissing robins
flying in fallen sky
floating beneath my eyes
where
for a...
Transit of Venus
In smoked glass
on a broken hill
above Matavie Bay
we watched that shade
that silhouette
slide by
the crooked mill
the wind
that tossed our clothes
outside the
graveyard gate
A veteran of what
you...
The Number of Our Days
Your flesh was a glass chorus
of cruel sirens
who with every touch
chafed the ribbons of my fingers raw.
In your blue eyes
I notched with a yellow...
Yellow Manhattan
All night cross-town cabs
yellow black Manhattan
traveling at the speed of metered time.
Surrounded by hubbub and sound
honking their way to curb exits.
Driven by expatriated hacks
who...
Faith
In the dark
heart of Rome
a saint burns brightly
by the fire
Diocletian thought he knew
what to do
with Christian dogs.
He was a humble man
with good intentions
not knowing
they...
Naked
Naked Pocahontas
cartwheels between
sheaves
of meadow grass
and half truth
history
Little wanton
Matoaka
Turns twelve
Within the rough-cut
walls of sixteen eight
Tobacco men
of Jamestown
elbow through
blue smoke
pulling on
their blackened pipes
grin dirty white
to see...
The Reprieve
You flew
in my room
I'd left
the door
cracked against
the autumn air
A wren you were
no bigger
than a latchkey
Lucky for you
it was only me
in residence
The cat was
gone
just dreaming
perhaps
of...
Stray
for Era Kever
I stepped out stray
on those
cracked streets
South Harlem
in the summer night
Black looks
in shadow
Death gliding
on the air
I didn’t see you there
They were fighting
on one...
Chocolate
Taking chocolate
to a sushi bar
was a crazy thing
to do
She smiled
her gratitude
Blackening her teeth
like a Tokugawa
geisha
