Katie Kemple

Six Weeks

Pregnancy is counted
from the first day
of a woman’s last period

before a sperm’s part
of the equation, only
blood and tunnel—

periods not like clock
work. Some slow,… Read more

AMLO Says

REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File Photo

“Due to my presidential office, I can’t expose myself to wear and tear”
Due to my 119 hour working week, I can’t expose myself to wear and … Read more

AM 567

I never thought
the Charlie Watts
tribute
conceived by
James filling in
for Phil on Radio 3
Hong Kong I used to think
jaded about the Stones we were
small … Read more

Front Page

In today’s news, the president pulled his army’s troops from a
middle eastern country because their soldiers were always high

and didn’t fight like a terrorist takeover was imminent. So … Read more

Out of sight

What’s the difference between
eviction and our sad condition except
that the former gives birth to the latter?
Behind me – if I am still visible – is
the house … Read more

Haiku

Beyond the window over the kitchen sink,
the sky is glowing wildfire red
A movie trailer for the apocalypse

About the Poem

This brief poem is meant as a kind Read more

Fall of Kabul

640 bodies with only room for 150
Bodies crushed together, waiting, hoping, fearing.
Desperate
Bodies trampled in a stampede
Bodies punctured by gunshots
Bodies falling from the sky
Evacuated schools. … Read more

Cordially

I have notes someplace
from the great intellectual
conservative columnist
William F Buckley, Jr

He signed them all
Cordially
I understand that
this was not just for me
he did … Read more

Pyrophytes

“Pyrophyte: Any plant that is resistant to fire,
or that needs fire to propagate.”—Wiktionary

This morning I’m breathing smoke
from forest fires two thousand miles away
and the people who … Read more

Skydiving

Image: The Indefinite Wait by Ami Prasad

Vultures float over the RV park, their wingspans wider than trailers and mocking our idea of the “mobile home.” These birds grasp the … Read more

Humane Killings

For Howard Debs

Wire Cutter Magazine gives the best advice
About how to kill black ants that have invaded

Your home. And though ants aren’t as bad as lice,
they … Read more

Bad Policing

Should we still identify them as the police?
Patrol the streets for “harmful” black flesh
Bullets and tasers they quickly release
On melanin ones, they chase or catch

Do they … Read more