Lookout
He took a week to gather his things and move into my body. Not what we’d packed in his coffin. Pickaxe, Maine gold, tourmaline, his dog’s ashes. Only what would not press for space. Breath, curses, dreams. I couldn’t explain. I tried, said I was inhabiting my body as a …
Read More
Pietà I: afterbirth
once the gushing stopped I got a good look at him— at the boy I mean—he crowned this morning that bloodless god took blood from me & lord he fumbled blind like a puppy for my milky-eyed nipple teeth ached & we stank in the filth of us our new …
Read More
I Hold God at Morning in a Prayer
Dear God, see me walking with my darkness. See me at this corner with rotten pears in my mouth. I have spoken so much about the leaking memories in my bones. I have spoken so much about my worries that I wonder if anyone listens. The tears I know are …
Read More
Quiet Corner
1. Once a camel now a dog, my bladder marks my way to the toilet. Parkinson’s paralyzes my friend’s legs and larynx. The film of Alzheimer’s clouds a colleague who, at parties, recited Beowulf. I read about the poet who puts his face between a woman’s thighs, not knowing she’s …
Read More
Diagnosis
I’ve joined the widow now who holds her breath and wears blue gloves to change hotel sheets with sets she brings from home, then leaves behind on mornings she flies out. I’ve joined him too, the lawyer who unscrews his toilet seats when summer grandsons weep and wave goodbye. The …
Read More
Achromatopsia
Colors hiding in the fields. Having fled my eyes in a sudden mutiny. A revolution rare among visual glitches. City rendered sad, a cold faded etching. Egg yolks the color of cream. Blood stains uncarnadined. Startled birds white on a gray laurel hedge. Went to sleep with the reds and …
Read More
Elegy with Steam
When I was sick with a head cold, my head full of pressure, my father would soak a washcloth in hot water, then ball it up, ring it out. He would open it above my head, then place it against my face like a second skin, the light around me …
Read More
because horse is the closest i can get to it
after Jack Gilbert the horse in my mind knows the moon well enough to not need to speak to it when i try to talk to horses i watch their feet aware of their weight i try to feel my own a horse knows when …
Read More
[SPECULUM] ENVY
I was jealous of my brother’s race car bed and jealous of my neighbor’s swing set. In a memory, a house across the street is knocked down by a yellow construction vehicle and I watch from my uncle’s lap where we sit in the attic. He has a penis and …
Read More
Chemistry
We were side by side in chemistry. Hands touched the same beaker, still, no reaction. I remember your cheeks were warm streaks. We learned about the water cycle. I knew all about it. Rising heat and condensation changed the course of thundering, rainfall. But I didn’t brag much, when we …
Read More