Writing

Poetry |

“Geyser,” “Tradition,” “Rattle” & “Moon”

“Even the night air can’t breach the edges of itself. / x words in the English language — there’s no agreement. / I wear them like lipstick. Rouged over for tradition.”

Literature in Translation |

from Sakura: “I Dare You””

“I guess I’ll start with the ending. My brother and I didn’t manage to find flowers for our new baby sister that day. And we rode in a patrol car for the first time.”

Literature in Translation |

“Regarding Lot,” “The Last Supper” & “Simon the Cyrenian”

“Wine is on the menu, / and some of us plan to order // beer, a salad of legumes, / roast meat and fruit —// mandarins, sufficiently sweet — / to make us utterly aware // of the dispiriting fact / that the world and the invincible years // will surely separate us …”

Poetry |

“Post-Pandemic Professional Development Pantoum”

“We make our hands talk like puppets with funny voices / while Leadership predicts the future of the college ten years from now. / The Speech Professor whispers that management prefers to be called Leadership.”

Fiction |

“Scavengers”

“It looked like the discarded contents of a suitcase from twenty yards. Cloth and leather. But then Francis smelled it — sweet and rancid. Sulfur and ammonia.”

Poetry |

“The Gospel of Gold”

“’Gold is a treasure, and he who possesses it does all  / he wishes to in this world,’ writes Christopher Columbus, / ‘and succeeds in helping souls into paradise.'”

 

Lyric Prose |

“Little Bells” & “Land of Joy”

“When I entered the church, there was music playing. / Shoulder to shoulder, silent women, / from nearby Reserves, had roused hope / to fill plastic bags with worn children’s clothing.”

Essay |

“Uplokkid”

“Like medieval mystics in their anchorages, my mind was on the long-term rewards of short-term sacrifices. I found myself embracing solitude for a higher purpose: not holiness, but haleness, wholeness.”