A dividing line is crossed again
children scream as the monster once a child
attacks the town telephone poles twisted
crosses warped metal fences clipped
rounds of rapid-fire along salted roads
fields & inside the mortar … Read more
United States of America
The Coffin Artist
I know art can’t do shit,
and when budgets get cut
the arts are always on the block.
After the board meeting,
some teachers, students
and parents are left
to … Read more
Beloved Child
Almost eight, Amy swims down the lane casually, in a zig-zag pattern,
kicking her feet so slowly they barely leave a wake,
eyes closed as her swim cap grazes the … Read more
Alito Draft Causes Sonnick* Boom
A draft leaked from the bowels of SCOTUS
Putting our country’s women on notice:
States can own your womb, from cradle to tomb
No one can stop this, not even … Read more
Our Thoughts and Prayers
The Tec-9 is fast and light, proved itself
at Columbine.
(our thoughts and prayers are )
The Glock’s another make will do you well:
Red Lake 10, 27 Sandy Hook, … Read more
Blue Angels
Annapolis, MD commissioning week
it’s a tradition of the US Naval Academy
the Blue Angels entertain, show off skills,
an hour of stunt flying along … Read more
United We Fall
The bodies are piling up
again
as past becomes present
again.
A different time,
a different place,
different victims
and survivors
united
by innocence,
by grief
by failure,
failure
to … Read more
America: the safest place to be?
Cozied into my recliner–
the one with the prayer shawl
to lean into, wrap around shoulders,
when things get too tragic too often.
I turn on the 5:30 news
as … Read more
Gundrunk Blues for Uvalde
Bullets pump from the chambers of our magnum hearts
Lead and cordite course through our clotted veins
Poisoned blood singing songs of annihilation
Psalms of death
Our love on sale … Read more
Modern Buffalo
the shooter was mapping out the aisles for weeks
too many buffaloes
we watch how they run
on the hooves of previous days, last
week my friend’s daughter graduated from … Read more
Thirty Pieces
Thirty Pieces
the man in midnight colored cassock murmurs
God’s work is done
thirty pieces jingling
he offers a thousand hosannas
to the prophet
a little foul-mouthed and avaricious, but … Read more
Infrequent Diaper Changes
what it is to be urban
can feel fire-like
blazing as you see yourself streak down the street
showing off your swagger
women brandish vodka in coke bottles sipped through … Read more
A Trace of Light
A trace of light falls upon
the land of Ukraine where
a forgotten child is left alone
with his own private sorrows,
where God has turned His
burning eyes knowing … Read more
Kneel and Pray
I’m back to hiding under my third-grade desk
back down here with the gum
while the shirtless bully grabs for our crayons
again and demands we thank him for it… Read more