night falls quite suddenlyover war in other countries,while the morning is finehere and biteable, cleanas new coins. a young man,with control for his shiftof a remote operationsecurity gate,fiddles the buttonsat a private estateentrance just onthe outside ofblackrock. another mandriving a truckwith Panda Waste Disposal Costamped on the cargogrows impatient and waitsfor a load of recycling.sunrise … Continue reading Sunrise and Building-Cast Shadows
image of christ appears on anempty billboard just north of townbut this is not hope dead men are not the future let the dogs run wild let the children live in fear taste of gasoline should beenough to keep them going the promise of pain andabandoned shopping malls everything broken andseen from a distance bulldozers … Continue reading A Brief History of the Kingdom of Nil
Out past the last town lies the land of nothing. Thirty-million years ago this tectonic plate failed to stretch itself thin enough to build any new ocean. Only scars remain: normal faults and rock piles. Valleys, filled to their throats with sediments, enough space to contain all the ghosts and wild burros. This sagebrush sky … Continue reading Basin And Range
After the stroke you could not lift your left hand to meet your right in prayer, so a daughter pressed her young flesh full palm against your wrinkled one so your hands could speak for your lips were cracked in a mouthy desert of dried saliva. This daughter, by your sidetried to abide the ordersto … Continue reading Tic Tac
Don’t you want to believe it — with just the pluck of an eyebrow or the clip of a rogue cuticle you too could be new again? Beauty is the self’s sneakiest assassin, slipping in through the unlocked door of desire, slashing tomorrow’s throat with its shiny switchblade.I make the hair appointment, get the fillers, … Continue reading She Of Theseus
The year Logic came out with his suicide hotline song,we had to report students singing I just wanna diein the hallways during passing period. As teachers,it’s our job to report outcries like this to the crisiscounselor, even though we know it’s a song.You’re finished if you don’t, says the principal.Your life ended in ninth grade; … Continue reading My Students Say Things That Kill Me
Pretty cool for a kid who watched too much Disney channel and threw so many peace signs at Polaroids my Nana had to give me a nickel to stop. Amoebas with attitude sashaying through a sea of autotuned pink, pinky promise pink, gum-poppin’ pink. Now muted tones like bone, ecru, beige. I’m afraid I’m plain … Continue reading The Pink Cheetah Print Coat
Stag beetle, antlers raised Corpse mounted in resin. Preservation,nature’s baby, a human oddity, a body on displayon the desk, half paperweight half treasure. Palmed under the guise of sanctification (isn’t it beautiful?) — here is your forensic proof, the crime so, so long ago now a shadow on the waterline, the vessel submerged. Stag beetle, … Continue reading Funeral
I’m trapped between a rug and a hard place. This shiny floor keeps reproducing. I’m clinging like barnacles to the sinking ship. It is always moving, but where is it going? The captain is a bat out of hell. Wizzing through dark caves. Are you always moving? Young folks watch Tik Tok. Then they break … Continue reading Real Humans
Couldn’t look the cashier in the eye as I placed Diet Coke and cheapconcealer on the counter while Heather hid another lipgloss in her hoodie. Later, our loot spread out on her living room floor, she said to me, Not wanting to get caught isn’t the same thing as being a good girl — my … Continue reading Goods