Drought-Break
For months, nothing but rain in California.
Rain in California, as unexpected
as a savant’s first symphony, as kindness
from a forgotten foe.
The oaks lean in, slump tons
of … Read more
April 2023
Missouri Compromise
I have never owned a gun but I stockpile
books which I will lend to anyone who wants
one. The right to reading is the right
to a good defense. … Read more
To Never Know Nana’s Favorite
You’ll always be the story
with an unknown
ending.
A plot not allowed to unfold.
A premature climax.
An unlikely protagonist.
An unsuspecting conflict.
A setting of details unwanted.
A … Read more
UN Climate Panel’s Last Words
My hands in dishwater, sinking
in suds, earbuds in—so I don’t disturb
the house with news that claws
its way into my brain and scratches
its talons across my heart, … Read more
Got Your Goat
The 4-H program, Shasta County Fair
has reaped a world of trouble we just read.
A little girl asked them her goat to spare
but no, authorities wanted it dead.… Read more
The Presidency
José Mujica ascended to the presidency
and kept his three-bedroom bungalow
a stone’s throw from Rio De La Plata
in Montevideo gave nearly his entire
presidential salary to charity spent … Read more
American Gothic
after Grant Wood
She sits in her Adirondack chair
on the front porch of a summer afternoon,
overlooking the cutting garden
in her Confederate flag t-shirt
knitting shotgun shells with … Read more
Unpermitted Encroachments
(SF city notice to remove a Little Free Library from a sidewalk)
It’s what they call a feature story,
not mainstream news,
about the little free library,
not a building … Read more