Blocking

Stage Left The sun was too bright, the clouds too puffy. A susurrant breeze strummed the grass with too soothing a melody. A sharp struck blow and groan, blood fans out in a mist, runs in rivulets, settles in pools. An hour till sunset and the sun hangs low, longing to disappear. It was too [...]

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Linguistic OCD

I’m feeling sibilant today. I’ll order a citrus salad and small soda, swoosh down a slide, swing from a chandelier, shoot skeet, sing Stardust, set off for Saskatoon then settle for Sioux City. I’ll have to sleep in the street because there aren’t any Sun Suites outside the southern states. Tomorrow everything starts with X. [...]

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We lay down our fossil record with alacrity then stand it up again: photographs, video, blog postings, an eternal catalog of correspondence. Moments seem to flow together, live and walk among us in vibrant color, yet we cannot enter the breath of a shadow. A swollen bubble of our detritus, the dead skins of our [...]

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The Hunting of the Quark

Amble down suburban streets. Observe the admirable homes, vinyl clad and sealed against the elements. Note their lawns, manicured, pesticized and herbicized into obedience. All is in accordance with every city ordinance, zoning code, and neighborhood covenant. Then dive within any random atom and things become disorderly, electrons swirling in a blur, refusing to be [...]

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The Arch is a Blind

on the 248th Anniversary of the Founding of St. Louis, Missouri 14 February 1764 Weighted only with the definition “inverted, flattened catenary,” she soars while watery sun ripples down her graceful curves and angles. Downtown towers preen, watch their reflections in her skin. She pays no heed, just notes the day’s weather, the hour, the [...]

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Chouteau’s Pond

On the 248th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis, Missouri 14 February 1764 Nothing remains before the DeHodiamont House and Bissell Mansion, both built by 1830 except for the divide between north and south. In early years a creek ran east to west. Pierre Laclede, St. Louis’ founder, created a pond or lake depending [...]

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It’s Like This

You don’t want to say, “I’m afraid because my mother is slowly dying,” so you mention social awkwardness, the fear you’ve given offense, the slant of the rain and its relentless repetition of the same flat note on the air conditioning unit. Grief styles itself in many forms. You suddenly think you’re falling apart as [...]

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[Insert Name Here] is Dead

After a meteoric rise on infinite talent, s/he spiraled downward never matching former achievements or commercial success. Wasteland years of drugs and booze ended today in tragedy. We will never forget our love and devotion to this stellar performer we mocked for years. —- This is more editorial comment than poem.

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Yesterday

An assemblage of broken moments, gear spring and cogs loosed from the housing which gave them function. I pick up a bit of brass, well machined and useless. — For dVerse Open Link Night. It’s small but at least I wrote something.

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Bus Stop on a February Night

Gray shreds of yesteryear’s grass lie flattened in mud. They alternate with cigarette butts on earth’s damp skin. Looking up from these, coffeehouse lights invite, as the park across the street would during day. Evening hangs with mist, draws my eyes to the ground, again, between sidewalk and street where sky waters a patch of [...]

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