Theodore Roosevelt never returned to Panama; he never saw the Panama Canal
—David McCullough The mind is an […]
History
Same Oaks, Same Year
My cousin kept me and his little brother saved me from our uncle’s pit bull, then spent seven years in prison for his set. Every other word he said was blood. *** Uncle Nuggie showed us how to make a BB rattle inside a squirrel. Two small holes, enter […]
Towards the Mouth of the River
triangles of blue on my face: the fins of a salmon dying between two rocks // light is my grandmother closing her hands pleading in air thicker near the water // I’m a doe in my mother’s house the water covering my hind legs completely I drink from the deep end […]
Perfect Form
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 […]
O corpo que flutuava (in Portuguese)
Um corpo flutuava no mar de azeite e foi essa a maior lembrança de sua pouca juventude. Não era uma carcaça de navio nem era uma parte da floresta que havia se desprendido para o mar. Mas a sólida matéria que um dia Deus soprou o Seu espírito. Estava vestida de cinza […]
Street View
I Google where I come from in Ireland, drag the orange man to street view and click the spin arrow over and over so I can see it all. I push the white circle as close as I can to the old house, wanting to sit the little man inside it. When I click on […]
Ars Poetica With Vulture
Diclofenac, prescribed for gout or arthritis, wends into the poem to explain the thousands of vultures—long- & slender-billed, oriental white-backed & griffin—& owls who carrion-clean what the vultures of northern Indian skies leave on skinned cattle shot full of the drug, & I find myself speaking another poem’s tongue, saying something about rosemary […]
Desire
Naked, the Emperor gazes up at the giraffe wavering on crane-legs after days in the dark, waiting. The people, witness, have never seen such a creature, they know […]