United States of America

Space

A grapefruit-sized meteorite
crashed through the ceiling of a bedroom
in a New Jersey home, and people are barely
talking about the circumstances of the intrusion.

Maybe there are too … Read more

Empty Folders

No prior Prez has smuggled docs,
concealed in boxes among his junk,
containing so much secret stuff,
and now they’re seized, he’s in a funk.

He claims the docs belong … Read more

Don’t Take my World

Today I walked familiar streets,
stood where avenues cross,
where people meet.
I smiled at a lady with a toddler in hand,
bought a pretzel at the corner stand,
saw … Read more

A Week of Shootings

The black kid who rang the wrong doorbell
expecting his siblings is recovering at home.

The white teenage cheerleaders fled
after one climbed in a mistaken car.
One was treated … Read more

On Lies Many Shapes

My 4th-grade math teacher would categorize lies by shape and weight. Headaches on test days were triangles (angles acute and obtuse). Bruised knees and hallway trips were trapezoids (competing sides, … Read more

R. U. D.

Thirty-three engines rumbling
thrust building, years of
research and development
on the line, wild hopes of
Martian settlement, eternal
fame and glory, first steps
taken on an amazing path.
Starship … Read more

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

Collapse

Image by Lena Petrovic

Hercules is nervous. He dreams big,
but saves very little.
He is religious, believes in hard work.

In his money temple, marble crumbled,
clients overdosed on … Read more

Topical

what can we do with shooting
procrastinate the delivery
not think about the source
deliver unto being
just Easter and the Passover
un being

recently a friend of mine had … Read more

Terror

terror in innocent daycare eyes
terror in insolent teenage lies
terror in all our daily plans
terror in all Americans
terror in parks where children play
terror by night
terror … 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

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

Mama Mia

A tasty slice of pizza
in Little Old New York
is best enjoyed barehanded
and without a knife and fork.

But mozzarella lovers
have faced inflation’s blast.
The cost of … Read more