My bucket doesn’t have a list and it’s never been kicked.

Even on the really bad days when the mocking shine of its metal body has tempted my foot to make contact,

His phone pings; the morning sun glares. Kyle staggers to the bathroom mirror amidst empty bottles for inducing oblivion. Red-eyed and dishevelled, with stubble masking gray complexion and black hair in matted clumps; he checks his phone. Today’s date snipes him between the eyes: one hour till…

I’m in the spare bedroom/office.
Chrysty’s in a rotten bad mood.
she walks the apartment
like a donkey stable. kicks holes

My father died with all his keys still on the ring. House key. Padlock key. The tiny brass one for the old suitcase he never opened. Office key for a job he left in 2002. A car key for a Toyota that rusted behind the house.

How’s “James Dean” doing? I had a feeling our little stunt would work. I knew the second he saw us kiss, he’d come running back to you (you’re welcome, by the way). It’s kind of sweet how much effort he puts into that rebel-without-a-cause look.

The second time something slips from his hand, he does not move right away. He studies the distance between intention and consequence. It looks smaller than it behaves.

Still Life of Fish and Bird

It’s 16 below zero. Actual temp. We’re sole owners of the shore, windchill pushes it down to minus 36.

We walk from cane fields,
cotton in our nightshirts, sweet

faces on a school bus:
petals of flowers
unopened