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
Death
Quantum Physics Proves There is No Such Thing as Nothing
Instead, there is quantum foam
particles blinking into existence
only to blink back out
and as someone fallen
from the wagon of Catholicism
this discovered range of energies
feels like … Read more
Relentless Ian
He makes his way
over miles of ocean
gathering strength
looking like a threat.
Bold landfall in Cuba
slices off the power,
leaves families homeless
his eye aimed at the … Read more
Why Are You Here?
for Sayeh (Shadow)
Poet
from the forest-covered mountains
you celebrated the land that jailed you
When the radio broadcast your patriotic song
your jail guards and cellmates asked,
“Why are … Read more
The Last Text
We drove with the sunroof open
So the breeze could tangle our hair.
We rolled through stop signs,
We ran reds as the others did,
And we pressed send on … Read more
Under a Tree
High school sweethearts celebrating
56 years of marriage on a trip to DC.
to find their fate hiding under a tree
Traveling 803 miles from Janesville, WI
to explore the … Read more
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
Who Put the Ax in Al Aqsa?
May He who makes peace in His high places, make peace upon us and upon all Israel; and say: Amen.
The Mourner’s Kaddish
It was proclaimed a heroic operation
to … Read more
This little slab of horror
This terrible reason to pray
I keep stuffing my prayers
back through the glass
but the war won’t go away.
About the Poem
On a Saturday in April 2022, I … Read more
Snow and Fire
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
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