The Number of Completion
After Three Pears by Patty Willis, oil on canvas
The first pear blushes; you’ve discovered himnaked with his companions, their fleshy bodiesinches...
Exile
Exile is a long walk, an intricate tattoo, soonit has grown into your face—Daniel Simko
Your mouth sounds clearestacross the ocean. Language rises
into a cloud...
Our Lady of the Cafeteria
Praise her hairnet, her steam-smudged
eyeliner, bronzed highlights. Praise her
tongs that hold up breaded fish as wrinkle-
nosed kids ask what is...
Winters—
we like our bodies naked blanketed like letters in an envelopemoving against each-other as though the only warmth in this worldcould come from touch as though the only...
Tahane Recalls His Escape
An elderly gray wolf escaped from his northwest Florida preserve during Hurricane Michael and was later found and returned to his...
When the Nights Are Long
May oboes fringe the roads you roam,
a string quartet arranged around each
intersection and traffic lights timed
to its movements, every car...
Silver Sage
En route to Montecatini-Terme, Federica asks us,
jet-lagged and bleary eyed, if we know how to spot
the olive trees
speckled along the sloping countryside.
Laura’s voice...
At the memory care center, the parlor resembles
what was once my grandmother’s bedroombut with artificial flowers.Dixie cups swirl with pink ice cream,the coffee table...
