Basics of Profanity

I watch the highlights in my boxersand the goalie breaks his stickover the crossbar as a protest.I take phone calls the rest of the afternoonmostly wrong numbers seekingnumerical directions to their loved ones. I help find them in the phone bookI’ve kept open to the same pagesince I snatched it torn up somewhereon the highway. […]

Post October Odyssey

I spend the first ten years of every lifejust eating off the paper platesyou left for me.They tear so easily and burn so hotthe fire spreads to everything. The old beat up truck rolls backwardsdown the hill againand crushes all the prairie dogslike lemons into lemonade.I used to be afraid of facesnow I cannot live […]

No Such Place

She held the pipe for mewhile I tucked my shirt in on the patioand the flower burning slowlyleft an ashy ring on everything it covered. My coffee headache sickened meand left me almost useless the whole morning.Up and down the stairs to officeswith ceramic mugs and excess pensfor everyone. The lost prayed in the back […]

Snapshot

Irreplaceable photographs fall fromthe rafters of an old barn where the sunshineis revolted by the shade. Broken store front windows in the dustpansof the night crew all lean againsttheir brooms just as it’s day againand everything is peaceful. The rail yard screams like a new bornmade of metal so colossal in its infancy.All anyone can […]

Paywall

I take out all the empty cansand give them to the skeletonin the dumpster drinking run offfrom the living world for nothingbut the after taste that triggersall his memories. She slides the fresh tip of her knifeagainst the frosted over windowwhile the bus can’t keep its paceon any back road. The chain link rattles while […]