January 1, 2016
Desired Appreciation
Until now, now that I’ve reached my thirties:All my Muse’s poetry has been harmless:American and diplomatic: a learned helplessnessIs what psychologists call it: my docile, desired state.I’ve been largely well-behaved […]
January 1, 2016
Oh Abuse
When I try to locate you, I think maybe you are lodged in my scapula like ill-formed wings. When I listen for your voice, I hear a faint lullaby of […]
January 1, 2016
Introduction: “Oh Abuse”: Poets Regarding Pain
“In my life, I was trying to be / a witness not a theorist,” writes Louise Glück in “Nest.” If to “witness” means to see a thing, it also means, […]
January 1, 2016
Court of Law
The man to my right was famous. Infamous. He had tortured and was handsome. The interview shows had recently devoured his eloquence and beauty. I’d seen him the night before […]
January 1, 2016
Constitutional
Your grandmother—and not just her dementia but anticipating your mother’s, your own—walking is who we talk about—away from town— in the hospital again today you miss—up hills until we can […]
July 1, 1993
Mourning Song
It’s early evening here in the small world, where gods gamble for good weather as the sky turns red. Oh grief rattling around in the bowl of my skeleton. How […]