• The weight of whatever.

    Anything or everything does not fit in this context – packed tight as it is already with no matter what. Regardless, and in any case – it would appear inconsequential. There is no decision to be made on an alternative. In any event. Whatever happens. We take it or leave it.

  • Glass houses.

    Foolishly consistent are the hobgoblins of my little mind; no matter over which rests an unturned stone; mind the broken glass. Laurels are conspicuous by their absence yet no fonder grows my heart; I am no fair maiden to be won so easily by faint praise. Damn.    

  • Truth be told.

    I hate drama. I don’t like drawing attention to myself. I understand your point. I am only being honest. I don’t mean to be rude. I’m starving. I’m broke. I’m undecided. I’m sorry. I was just going to call you. I wish we lived closer. I’m here if you need me. I didn’t mean that… Continue Reading

  • Dividing then from now.

    We ring bells. Light fireworks. Shoot off guns. Send lanterns aloft and crystal balls ablaze. For the prospect of renewal. And the promise of resolution. The sun and earth continue their dance unabated;  uninterrupted and unmoved by our displays. Renewed and resolute all the same.

  • Default.

    It is never the easy choice. One thing or the other. It is everything all at once.  A total eclipse of the sun does not relieve the mutual attraction of the moon and the oceans. The glass in the patio door is still cracked; spider-webbed outward from the center where the ax handle struck last… Continue Reading

  • Family register.

    His death is recorded in your journal. Cliff died. Your scrawling script slightly larger than that on the surrounding pages the only indication of something amiss.  The unsentimental prose of a tenant farmer’s daughter and farmer’s wife. Cliff had to shoot a dog that’s been bothering the sheep. Two sick cows.  Called vet. Cliff died.… Continue Reading

  • Fire sale.

    Scenes comic, earnest and serious. All must go. All are welcome to inspect the goods for damage. Trivial disorder in auditory and visual input; diminished organization of verbal material; inconsequential disturbance in language comprehension; negligible personality deficits and affected behavior. This midnight disease the point of origin; composition to combustion a semantic rather than seismic… Continue Reading

  • Gerljean.

    My sister is my memory. Don’t you remember? She says. And I do.   June bugs tied to a string. Asphalt iridescent with summer heat. A slick copperhead in the creek bed, interrupted midfeast. The thick smell of honeysuckle.   When the men have lined up in their pajamas, we will climb back into our… Continue Reading

  • Doe, Jane.

    Google Maps shows the street view of where you lay, shallow in the weeds, listening to the night sounds.  The muted drone of planes overhead,  your body in the flight path of travelers headed up and away. The backfire of the car’s engine.                        … Continue Reading

  • Ruin porn.

    The upper arms softly undulate. A lip of flesh slips over the Cesarean section scar. A constellation of cellulite on the backs of the thighs. The breasts at repose against the ribcage. Some people travel to the streets of Detroit’s west side to rubberneck at the burned out remains of a once flourishing landscape. I… Continue Reading