Becoming Desire
Grandmother’s garden always lured:
blue-black tulips, glistening bruises,
unsubtle blurting poppies. Prone
as her peonies after rain, I lay waiting
to feel their exhalations
on my cheek. I...
You’re Done
If you’ve spied the tender, mud-
bound shoot—once the day has shown
some faint sign of lengthening—
its twin pokes its promise
from your sleepy, light-deprived
winter mind,...
Yet No Less Happy
On my birthday I vacuum my study then get
carried away, sweep through the bedroom,
bathroom. I drink an extra cup of coffee,
praise...
Daughter
I see you.
I am trying to see you
trying to keep the words
quiet on the page. Hot and bright
and roaring, scales
dripping like the one
mythical animal
in...
Survival Guide
The wolf never came to the door,
though we imagined it howling.
Somehow the lights stayed on.
The chuck-will’s-widow’s whistle vanished
from summer nights, yet still we...
The Gorgon Comes For Her Own
Ugliness is so unpredictable.
There are three ways to be beautiful
and thousands to be monstrous.
You should see it was never...
Hurricane Season
Clouds bruise the horizon.
Something in the water–
a mangrove, a bull shark– whispers
a storm is heavy on the sea. I remember
it is the season...
Parental Advisory
The polyurethane made us white
as bloated fish. As quick-dry glue-
spiked hair. In summer we peeled
and put gyms in our tongues. Boys
ringed their eyes...
Laundry
When she received her first laundry machine,
a wonder of torqued water & whiplashed soap,
she cried. I thought I was dreaming, she said. I mean,
my...
