January 2022

Physiognomy

Public Delivery: Converted grayscale

I’m the one with words on my face,
calligraphied by the steadiest hand. I cover-up
those dumb parts that cannot speak, choose not to,
instead live … Read more

In The Breeze

a swirl of ravenous winds,
pummeling down at high velocities
a trinket lost in the damage
a house, a home
more than a million and a half to count
tin … Read more

A ROSE FOR HER SISTER

She takes the garden shears with her,
Long handles, sharp blades

Crops burn in the Caucasus.
Aurora Borealis shimmers,
Streaming lilac over Chicago.
The irradiated night sky.

She steps lightly … Read more

Snow Hollow

Climbing through ice caverns
our refrigerated sweat crystalized
on cheekbones while long sleeve shirts
clung to damp arms like naked tongues
stuck to aluminum bars inside a freezer.

Dripping moisture … Read more

Pre-Cana

“Today … we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child, but they have dogs and cats that take the place

… Read more

Snow and Fire

Image by Claire Matturro

Snow which quells
fire meshes cinders
of cold and heat
falling too late to save
the man and woman
dogs now search for
in stark and … Read more

As It Happens

As it happens, reeling
from losses of strangers,        
Joan Didion always slouched.
She made it glamorous,
articulate, and suave.

As it happens, Desmond Tutu.
Said “You don’t choose your family.… Read more

A Plastic Pandemic

Looking back to 1969 the words seem prophetic
“He’s got a plastic heart, plastic teeth and toes,
plastic knees and, a perfect plastic nose.
He’s got plastic lips that hide … Read more

Border things

I was not bothered about crossings
until this morning, when I arrived
still a new one, no matter what.
Oblivious as the wall
on a busy street-The people. The traffic.… Read more

Waiting for Dawn

I’m not a child who sees six weeks
as far away as the moon.

I know that every day melts
into the next, quicker
than butter in a hot pan.… Read more

When another school

shooting crawls
across the bottom

of the screen, she scrambles
upstairs to Dylan’s

den, where she hugs his mended
bear— fixates on his class

photo—the blue
of his eyes over … Read more