Sunday, April 26, 2009


FOREIGN LANDS


The grit of the boot print
is seen in an unflattering
ultraviolet close-up, slightly
out of focus, a single cusp
zoomed-in on the satellite map.

Who but the prince
could lift the sword?
These stories are already suspect,
like thumb prints around
a throat that’s telling.

Who is the one who can name
names, who sent the princess
past the toll gate? Who can find
the edges of the earth and mark
it finished in the dark?

I guess the answer is,
who ever gets there first…

Thursday, April 23, 2009


FRAMED


Bird song at dawn—
a melancholy one-note.
The capillaried tree branches
etch the sky into parcels
of cold white light.
My window frame can’t
contain them.

Thursday, April 16, 2009


OPEN PALMS, A PRAYER


Such a tired god who labors
between our pauses.
The ground is wet and green;
tufts of color arise
from the rain’s sacrifice.
When I run my hands through it,
it comes up empty.
The shape holds for a moment,
but it is water, after all--
a sliver, a rivulet
to bind us here.

Monsters