What a Kid
I found out about his death over Facebook Messenger, some sad-face emoji staring back at me from the screen. Who does that? I wonder now. No call. No text.…
For Joe, Who Showed Us All
Joe never learned to skate, kept falling down, busted his nose once, got blood all over his winter coat. He was big for his age, carried his…
The Cowshed
Set off by indigo and right angles Chagall’s cow appears to know something. He regards me with a familiarity as he tilts his beveled head back. There is no…
Prayer of Night
Translation by Judy Katz-Levine I live sitting, one who is an angel in the hands of a barber, holding a beer mug with deep grooves arc of the belly…
Self-portrait as Pine Barrens
I’m not so barren, actually I’m waiting for a fire. Underneath me the immaculate aquifer where the rusted waters run iron-rich. There are no fish with holy gills. There…
The Principle of Inertia
On my walk I see in a matter of seconds an empty can of Arizona iced tea a dead black bird and a white man smiling at me from…
Self-portrait as Bower Bird
Look here at this cathedral arch I’ve wrought for us with beak and talon. Look at this shelter I’ve culled from refuse and castaway plastics. See? I’ve painted…
The Hour of the Cockerel
Which is to say dusk is approaching, as Pablo from Thessaloniki and Paige from Fox Chapel prepare to say their goodbyes. Pablo moving back to Cologne, which is a…
Herb Garden
the arrow piercing a metallic globe points to a concrete angel cradling a pot of incense while the rosemary grows wild and mint gives way to sage which sprawls…