Poetry |
“I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt knows” & “What Women Say Only in Quilts”
“Nights and nights at the wooden frame fighting // sleep to finish that quilt — a gift for a couple / whose marriage would last — I fight // for ours”
Poetry |
“Alcohol” & “Kent State”
“When you took off your backpack and winced too loudly / at a persistent soreness in your shoulder, the pretty barista / hated you briefly on her otherwise pleasant morning. / The coffee smelled strong. Everyone could see / what everyone was reading. You bought a $12 Heineken.”
Poetry |
“from his wrist,” “each being the / moon,” “eyes upon seize,” “if I’m not that person” & “no one”
“if once you thought yourself smart / if you know what we cannot see with our diligent eyes / if the silver bowl is filled with snow”
Poetry |
“Will”
“dull metal knob / just visible, just ice to touch, / opened on a perfect rectangle of green / pines spread like butter along the edge / of blue lake … “
Poetry |
“How Thirsty,” “The Cows and Corn” & “Storm Cloud”
“I keep planting the corn year after year, / thinking I can harvest it before the cows smell / its sweetness and break through the fence …”
Poetry |
“Eddie Murphy on the Can”
“I am on the can in the school bathroom / watching a video of Eddie Murphy talking about being a dad. / He says I’m a cool dad and you know he is.”
Poetry |
“Vida Nova, Los Angeles,” “Heat Index” & “Teaching Marie Antoinette to Drive”
“Who can live in such ungovernable space? When even / many residents are dropped into a maison bigger than a mall, // they sometimes flounder in their rushing affluence.”
Poetry |
The Poets of Martha’s Vineyard, part 1
“And the moon looked down upon this unintelligible muck / With not a thought for geraniums, nor madmen, nor landladies / And sighed.”
Poetry |
“Lapsed Priest”
“Today, as a gift, / I gave my mother a book / on angels. / That was a mistake. / We sat there / looking at the wings in the paintings.”
Poetry |
“Initiation”
“The idea / was to hold my breath / and relax, limb to limb, / until someone, ideally / my mother, looked / up from their weight / loss magazine / in horror …”
Poetry |
“Where To Perish”
“Use rusty nails and shells for toenails. / Spiderwebs move into her stitches. // Blend bamboo and voodoo for the updo. / Baleen etched on iridescent abalone.”
Poetry |
“Turning In”
“And how to write to you who would never read this, / to limit the language so that I might reach you on earth and also in this pretend.”
Poetry |
“Exodus,” “Rubies,” “We Were Supposed to Share” & “Slowness”
“But I’m now tattered sliced / assaulted. / The gulls cry as if they miss / water yet it’s near. / What if you’re the water I miss?”
Poetry |
“Requiem,” “Breviary” & “Causa Sui”
“At the funeral mass, my father asked me to tie his tie. / A parishioner approached, and asked him who died. / My wife, he said, every word an elevation to climb.”
Poetry |
“Sometimes It’s Good to Stop Talking”
“I solved all the problems, all / the road blocks // to world peace, yesterday, while / under the influence // at the dentist.”