Say that it is a crude effect, black reds, Pink yellows, orange whites, too much as they are To be anything else in the sunlight of the room, Too much as they are to be changed by metaphor, Too actual, things that in being real Make any imaginings of them lesser things. And yet this … Continue reading EP: Bouquet of Roses in Sunlight

Who is really listening to my ludicrous deliberations as I pace nonchalantly during a mid-spring evening, filling glasses with dark rum as the moon ascends above me Chunky clouds cover an elevated ocean hiding incoherent mumbles with a sluggish thrust of Yellow Sea breeze It’s behaving like a hushing white noise, or a full mouth … Continue reading Silent Apartment

On the first page of my dreambook It’s always evening In an occupied country. Hour before the curfew. A small provincial city. The houses all dark. The storefronts gutted. I am on a street corner Where I shouldn’t be. Alone and coatless I have gone out to look For a black dog who answers to … Continue reading EP: Empire of Dreams

You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?’Cause I walk like I've got oil wellsPumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like … Continue reading EP: Still I Rise

I went down to the river,I set down on the bank.I tried to think but couldn’t,So I jumped in and sank. I came up once and hollered!I came up twice and cried!If that water hadn’t a-been so coldI might’ve sunk and died. But it was    Cold in that water!    It was cold! I … Continue reading EP: Life is Fine

3. Pink jowled cherry blossoms danced in the air; 1,2,3,4...5,6,7,8.Freed pedals spun to the wet groundhaving been born just a month earlier.They were nurtured then softened bybuzzing kisses during a time when colorsdidn't fear each other as much as they do now.2. Green partnered with white and brown talked to yellow.Spunky films filled copious nightsafter … Continue reading End Games or Games End

You might come here Sunday on a whim. Say your life broke down. The last good kiss you had was years ago. You walk these streets laid out by the insane, past hotels that didn't last, bars that did, the tortured try of local drivers to accelerate their lives. Only churches are kept up. The … Continue reading EP: Degrees Of Gray In Philipsburg

My belief is "I still owe you"for all those sunny days ormonths of caring warmth Despite feasting at our tablebrunch, lunch, dinner, dessert the old unresolved bill is there I walked away; leaving the tab on the plywood counter without reaching for my wallet These hands and lips are clean,plates already placed in the sinkso … Continue reading Unpaid Invoice

The doctor said to my father, “You asked me to tell you when nothing more could be done. That’s what I’m telling you now.” My father sat quite still, as he always did, especially not moving his eyes. I had thought he would rave if he understood he would die, wave his arms and cry … Continue reading EP: His Stillness

I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, … Continue reading EP: One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII