Archive for the 'Poetry' Category
Beichuan the Assassin
Jianjiang river
undulates
to a deceptive cadence,
grinds her hips like Brazil.
Jesus, jumping or no.
Happy Buddha,
the man and not the dish.
Professors of geology, everywhere:
We congratulate you on
a most spectacular opening.
An evening of murderous reverberations.
Brought us to our feet. Our knees. Our longest rest.
Cut-rate coffee,
great businessman of the East,
lead-based paint,
take note:
Every courtship, marriage,
the birth and death of every daughter
everywhere
is [...]
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In Queue
Netflix sent Gandhi.
I eat Cool Whip from the tub,
wishing I had faith.
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Heads will roll for this
3 dozen men
from Santiago
flew in for our pitch.
Said thanks, gave them each a flashlight.
Deals will be done.
The evening headline reads,
‘FAA to 36 passengers: No Chile for you.
Matching flashlights cause airport scare. ’
There is always next time.
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Layaway
As long as it was from K-Mart and could be put
on layaway for 3 months I could pick out anything I wanted
at Christmas and birthdays.
This let mom make easy payments
that weren’t easy, could never have been
with dad’s salary, new Western needs.
School clothes, too;
Outfit after outfit, my faith placed in them to
make me cool. A suede [...]
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Summer 1993 (For Becky)
Tony Spatola’s cold hard cash
was sno-cone red,
wadded fives and wadded ones
drizzled medicinal grape.
Earning it meant 10 hour days
at the igloo, shaving ice and counting cups,
tallying styrofoam like there was an
accounting department, loss prevention, something to even lose
that wasn’t long since gone.
How we basked in fringe benefits like cavities,
juvenile onset diabetes,
the ability to mound ice flawlessly
with [...]
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Son and Father
It is hard to understand why
some lights go from green to red,
never yellow.
Short is not empty
like unborn is not shelter.
He knew the pains of war,
the joy of new mornings.
Reunions, deployments,
hot tea and anything oatmeal raisin.
Our pumpkin seed,
my smallest hero,
started and stopped without
time to slow, full speed to
never.
He watches me write,
knows he is better.
There are no [...]
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Westbrook
As I whisper
don’t hold back
to what might be cilantro
the wind plays two leaves
against each other,
like dogfighting dragon flies,
and my enthrallment is
your father.
Very next day
I pass him on a map
in a forgotten book,
the pages turned sleepy
from his tight command.
He asks I relay:
I come back in everything
new, only left
to find more for us
to learn.
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We’ve been approved (Great News)
Now that the bank has loaned us a home,
the bank has loaned us two cars
and we’ve borrowed careers
with our borrowed degrees
and the loans could get called anytime
and our checks to the dr. for kid no. 1
precede bills for kid no. 2
and our socks, select thoughts,
locks of hair, packs of cards
are not ours, and may [...]
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Fulcrum
Between the cucumber
and pickle
is vinegar,
the grape and raisin
is sun.
Citizen and criminal
just crime, or a frame,
Homemaker
homeless
a door.
Between devout
and fanatic
is the method of death,
old and antique
just an eye.
Lyric and poem
the intent of a song,
conqueror
conquered
a fight.
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Tell your sister
He spoke unto me:
praise Him not for that which could
just be goddamn luck.
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