Writing
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Lament for the Untimely Death of Leslie’s Rooster
Oh Gods, Oh Benevolent Spirits, Oh Guard Dogs,
all Fairies in the Gardens! Witness this, Ancestral
Ghosts and every Boy Scout who ever helped
Granny cross the street! I call on you, Bartenders:
I grieve!
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006, Variations on Catullus
Ship Creek, Alaska
Don’t bother asking
who’s had luck--they’ll all deny,
hoping you’ll keep walking. Scan
the banks for stringer lines or buckets
lined with silver.
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006
Leslie’s Ruddy Rooster
Look at Leslie’s ruddy rooster,
snuggled smug a’ right up in her
lap. Watch her preen his feathers,
kiss his beak
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006, Variations on Catullus
Because You Love Like Scientists Dissect Frogs
May your bleached hands crack and crinkle.
May your nose smell disinfectant and mop bucket.
May your feet know only the path from house to lab
and your parking space be in a concrete building.
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006
In the afternoon, alarms
Twenty fighters scramble after you,
baste the horizon with their exhaust trail,
tack the sky in place while I watch
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006
For the Love of Perfect Toast
The crumb tray is jammed, crooked--
scatters crumbs from counter to floor
if the toaster is moved, catches enough
to smoke the apartment if the toaster
isn’t shaken empty.
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006
Postcard from Vegas
Dear Mum--You remember Guy, my co-
worker, the one who went skydiving the day
his mother died?
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006, Variations on Catullus
First Thaw
The icicles that barred our windows break
this afternoon, each shattering against
the porch. We emerge, survey the damage, bask
in the sun that’s crept back into our sky
minutes at a time, near unnoticed.
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006
Mind, Spinning
Mind cards the day away,
his fingers spindling thread
while he stares at warp and weft
of picket fences, window panes.
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006
First Sight
Baby, I could say
infinite. I could say asteroids, collision,
shattering. I’ve charted that path, too.
Satellite skimming your horizon. Fuck him.
Categories: Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2006, Variations on Catullus