Or feels endlessly ruinous, at least, I’ll praise the trivial. I’ll praise in winter the half-foot of height lost by the Eiffel Tower. I’ll praise aspirin, which once was made from the boiled bark of the willow tree. Because there is never too much pleasure in this stupid world, I’ll praise chocolate. Decent sex. Out-of-body […]
Always bad form to announce, this is a poem. I’m not sure why. As if the few of us who’ll ever read these lines might think it anything else: a letter to a dying monarch; a guide to constructing something without discernible parts. Like love. Here I am, waiting on the night to press up […]
I don’t know their names & they don’t know yours, though your flesh is now of their flesh as a donor. I try not to get angry at strangers pressing too close, choosing kindness just in case there’s a part of you brushing by. What have your gorgeous, castaway eyes gifted another to […]
North Charleston, South Carolina, April 4, 2015 Walter Scott must have been a track athlete before serving his country, having children: his knees were high, elbows bent at 90 degrees as his arms pumped close to his sides, back straight and head up as each foot landed in front of the other, a […]
Bound to whims, bred solely for circuses of desire. To hell with savannahs, towns like Rosewood. Domestics or domesticated, one name or surnamed, creatures the dominant ones can’t live without would truly flourish without such devious love, golden corrals. Harnessed. Muzzled. Stocks and bonds. Chains and whips held by hand. Ota Benga in […]
Thanks, Yolonda This is the part where the boosters begin to fall away, & I’m moving so fast it feels like slow motion. From here I can see the blue contours of my journey against eternal midnight lit with torches held by unseen hands. I understand why many choose not to look—it really […]
haunted by wholeness— bright debris sibilant beneath skin tug-of-warring with gravity, we harvest shine from the caves of mouths & crevices of eyes incandescent as we remember the most massive flares among us, detonate inside each other to hold tiny supernovae in our arms. Crushed bodies […]
Waking, you discover our life lasted a few minutes; only women in paintings live slower. The truth of backs is the towel will never dry them. The tsunami gathers but does not land. Even destruction is beyond the gods who statue lush Tahiti. Did you once think nights only ended if you […]