Interstate
We play games in the backseat, the children and me. Is it bigger than a breadbox? Smaller than a house? Everyone’s a good sport before lunchtime but, by afternoon, our minds are tired and the games become more brutal. … Read More
Listening to Birds
Because I am not Dave’s wife, I hold my ear to his daughter’s chest every day, when the other children are quiet, sleeping. I think of her as his second heartbeat. I watch my friends’ children while they work. … Read More
Hyacinth Gaze
In the strain and hazy fragrance of The garden of Miradouro de São Pedro De Alcântara, a mosaic of cobblestones Lies locked in Minerva’s fixed watch, The perpetual gaze of her opulent bust; Through ceviche scents and pastel tones … Read More
Missing Hiker Kept Journal of Her Ordeal
(headline in the Boston Globe) Abandon the path, even once, if only to pee, and you’re lost. First text, undelivered—“Im in somm trouble. Call AMC. Somewhere north of woods road”— When I missed a blue marker the hour before … Read More
After Khe Sanh
My brother as if in a body bag— heard me laugh, couldn’t see but knew the curve of my throat when I threw back my head, lips open, taut over my teeth, felt my staccato breath against his opaque … Read More
The Weight of Mourning
Four-cornered night, the faucet plinks— plinks a wet thousand’s thousand of droplets each stood just once to sing upon the silver bell of bathtub stopper. In morning, a small boy forms and collects his body; he lets it curl … Read More
Vienna 1933-34
“The trouble is—I am an old man— you do not think it worth your while to love me.” —Freud to HD The dog lay by his feet during their sessions, A lion-like chow with a bad temper, or … Read More
Confessions
The first time I was stabbed, sunlight napped on the thunder. A receipt caught fire beneath a Sprite can offering its smoke. Raindrops splashed from your skinhead. You were Augustine. If he were a woman born on a boat … Read More