Family VisitDark-tied and properly suited,back at my in-laws’ place, I’m hereto make sure the flat is intact.The same portraits are standing guardand the same piano keys grinwith their yellowed...

TempoYou angle the plastic stick. You check the instruction sheet. Pee gets on your fingers          Outside dopplered music heralds the approach of an...

Seeds    (after Palm Sunday, Anselm Keifer)Deep in the root ball of the shipthe plant collector is making a nest.He counts his catch, tucks each seedin its own hand-labeled box,...

The Lion TamerBeyond the bars, the circus crowd sits paleto watch the beasts perform the tricks they loathe – They hope that I, their tamer, may just fail.But with my whip I will control them both.I...

Love & UnemploymentI want to be sointertwined with youthat our limbs wrap about one another⎯and spread⎯defiantly,like kudzu.Consuming and smothering all those perfectly practical reasonsthat...

Espoir                                &n...

The Weight it was the lips, blackberry, bloodyand dried up,I touched them, and I touchedthe ribcage the breast the hands the thighs the legsthe stitched seam running the lengthand I’m not...

Good OnesSometimes I wish I lived in a movie from the 40's, where everything is black and white and it either is or it isn't.  Important moments are highlighted by jazz so that you know...

LuggageFor some of us death is a black leather suitcase.We carry it everywhere and savorthe smell and texture while unpackingin motel rooms, hear the swish of underbrushagainst its sides, notice...