These poems have previously appeared in the following journals (in some form or another):
"Sibling Rivalry," "A Study in Empathy," and "Thanksgiving Day": Red Wheelbarrow; "Rasselas Found": The Found Poetry Review
eBook ISBN: 978-1-301-48988-6
Contents
a quick note
A Working Day
a study in empathy
Dinner w/ Jampa Dorje
Rasselas Found
Thanksgiving Day
Notebook Blood
after Morning Breeze
Mediterranean Rituals
luck is the lone plum
coo
the extrication and assassination of pulchritude
IdiotMan
valentine after breton
Gepetto
why
meditation
sinus headache fever dream
contemplation on memory
contemplation on dream
sibling rivalry
my father gave me a rock
w/ sincerity
about the author
other titles
a quick note on this edition
Fact: ebooks are different than print books. It is virtually impossible to control the ebook reader's experience. Meticulous typography becomes obsolete. It shall suffice to say much line indentation and deliberate word placements have been omitted from this edition.
Truly, it is the words that matter, so what difference does it make anyway? Opposing arguments can certainly be made, but that would take time away from the poetry kc
Afterwards
A Working Day
By day, I erect stacks, tapering precarious
sorted into the 10,000 things
between archaeology and zoology
aerodynamics and zen
By day, I eviscerate paper bags w/ torn handles, overflowing
through ripped seams: pocket paper pulps
fluorescent w/ cat urine
inundation of the humdrum
pot-boiler bestsellers, outdated guides to Peru
By day, I judge them by their covers
play resource manager, pretend to know the difference
between complex analysis and calculus
saddle-stitch and needlepoint
By day I sing this little piggy went to market, this little piggy went to town
(I sometimes get cranky and throw the books around)
By day, hands crack paper cuts
dust converges under corners of nail
presses into crevices of fingertip
a warm dullness in my shoulder
and I drop The Complete Shakespeare on my toe
Returning home, J and I walk the neighborhood
she is patient w/ my limp
she teaches me crape myrtle and liquidambar
japanese maple and olive and madrone
mushrooms split the trunk of an oak
bark collects at the base of the eucalyptus
(and now I understand why)
citrus turning ripened hues
fresh buds on branches that wear
last season's leaves
Returning home, I peel carrots, chop broccoli, cry over onion
I wash dishes, fill the kettle, take the garbage out
Returning home, I collapse into cushions and fiction
tea by elbow, feet warm under J's thigh
the cat nudges between arm and pillow
and we are both quickly asleep
By night, I sit still
count my breath,
feel my heart beating in my chest
empty space inside my head
I wait for thoughts to settle, softness to descend
By night, I ambush dreams
extract psychic metals, exploit veins of hypnagogic flow
I watch my eyelids closely, starving for visions
greedy for fresh words, I listen for the voices
By night, I nightmare
heater sinister, heavy bodies
on stairs, impending doom of earthquake
I unravel deep shivers
mind tied w/ fretting
the never-ending sigh
By night, I lie still,
hand on stomach, I follow ebbing breaths
feel my heart beating in my head
empty space inside my chest
watch the glowing numbers until sky pales
I wait for thoughts to settle, soft madness to descend
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