the milieu

Turns

Sand. Thousands of grains surrounding the rusted legs
holding up the playground swing set. Start there. Start
with something small, something memorable. Turning
the sand over in my mind, I see the blue veil of memory
slide like a lover over the Now. My palm tickles. Grains
send waves of pleasure from my hand up to my neck,
collecting [...]

Stubborn

We sat down on a pile of rubble
where we stopped to catch our breath
after clawing our way out of a maze
we stumbled upon while exploring.

Between ravenous draughts of air
you accused me of being a stubborn man.
I managed, in between shallow breaths
to muster up one cynical laugh.

A few moments of solitude passed
while we [...]

For Bonnie on her Thirty-First Birthday

Your name is Beautiful, the truest label
any human language could give you.
I revisit childhood often, and I smile
while you thrive in forgotten moments.

Seventh grade –
I get a candygram while dissecting a frog.
My cheeks burn as classmates tease me,
but now I have the strength to be grateful. [...]

The Birth of Cut

Cut remembers the Owl Moon.
Cut remembers the gray snow,
the rusted spade which sufficed
as a shovel in a toddler’s hands.

Cut remembers the black ice,
revisits the thrill of terror as two
threadbare tires lose their traction.
Cut wants to feel that alive again.

Cut remembers the moldy phrase
“missing in action.” Missing in -
Cut has acted. [...]

Desert 06

It is no metaphor to say you move the earth by singing.
You inhale the wind, the dust. You exhale water
vapors that, on certain cold-snap nights, form clouds
which rise and unfold outward in the darkness.

Your tune illuminates the Unlit City, reverberates
down the open throats, knits sinew onto dead bones.
You tear a part in [...]