The water tower dry, the name erased. The city: bisected, then again, then again. Pulsing lights. Chimney smoke. Rippling flags. There is order in death: a hall of power atop a mountain of stairs. Warping sirens. Garden beds. Sun-smeared glass. Decay has no allowance for chaos. Carbon: halved, then again, then again. All is putrefaction … Continue reading A Group of Vultures at Rest is Called a Committee
AGAIN HE HAD NOTHING to do. Well, not exactly nothing. His inbox was full of applications for building permits. Work a clerk could do, for fuck’s sake. No, work a clerk should do. Not him, a member of the Virginia Bar with responsibilities. And a Faber in fact if not in name. His brass name … Continue reading Scion
We expect her to be a diva or a monster, or merely fabulous; maybe she'll gyrate in the local co-op? But she’s normal and sad, it's said, of never being enough. When she turns up at the cricket club one Sunday, however, she’s eclipsed by rules even more never enough than her, a tea-time so … Continue reading Jennifer Lopez Moves to A Village in England
"YOU MARRIED?" asks Jake, the Uber driver. We are paused at a light downtown. The Prius hums, and chilly air seeps from the vent. "Uh, no," I reply. "You mean ever?" He barks a laugh into the rearview mirror. "No man, like right now." He turns down the rat-tat-tat of DJ Khaled on the radio. … Continue reading Heat Wave
I went to Greenwood Cemetery with a bouquet of flowers The color of cheese and a jar of Maraschino cherries to suck and chew And spit among the many rows of unfamiliar names. This was February; the year was still in deliberations. I don’t suppose I’ll ever visit the graves of friends, refuse to See … Continue reading Sonnet at Greenwood Cemetery
The ire of summer heat through the glass of my car, driving past highway construction and what once was a deer, now melted into bones on the pavement. Trees mowed down in a scarred church lot, the sign for a new building with the wood chipper beside it. And then the driveway hedge, so alive … Continue reading Crisis
THE CAT WAS BACK, which was fine with Sanders because he sure as hell wasn’t getting any writing done. Hadn’t the whole time he’d been here. Blame the cold, the rain, and now the cat. Even when it was dry, the magnificent desolation of North Wales distracted him, too. This soaked, mewling, clay-colored cat gargoyled … Continue reading A Man Without Prudence
Step inside and smash the first round of contents down. Justwhen you think you can’t take any more shit you find more canfit. Your container will need to be filled indiscriminately.Trashed. Suggested ingredients include: unpaid parking tickets,dogshit, someone else’s syringes, apologetic birthday cards,empty bottles, bottles filled with flammable liquid, and a rope fora molotov cocktail. … Continue reading Self Portrait As Dumpster Fire
DAVID SOLOMON TURNED into the hotel parking lot shortly after seven o’clock in the evening, but the summer sun held brightly in the sky. He pulled up to the main entrance, turned off the car, and stepped out. As he did, a young boy, maybe seventeen, rushed out through the automatic sliding glass doors, pushing … Continue reading Two Funerals
I sent my kite up high above the apple trees, their blossoms brimming with the nectar of the gods. In the Royal Dragoons, you never had a prayer of getting a kite up, what with the reins in one hand, a saber in the other, and the sky above the battlefield so still and full … Continue reading Kite