Thursday, June 20, 2013

Paramount

Loaded, she could have
taken a shot

at his intentions. High-
postured, shaking like
a spent cartridge.

He pulls cat hair
from the barrel. Fine mess
you have all made. Piss

moisture licks at his shoes. The names
in his address book slouch
in an inky draw. Rat carcasses

dot the floor. He teeters
paint cans on a mound
of silenced fur. Well, she agreed.

The rank spray of memory
burrows into the barn wall
with dust and lead. ¿Cómo 
se dice “alive”? He coughs.

Stellar work, honeycomb.
Paint, pull, splatter. Art buries bone.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Featured Gem



On a slow noon Saturday, the pioneers remain
buried. A dented, turquoise Windstar
crawls up the half-circle

needle and gravel driveway.  The Witnesses
are recruiting, but first we’ll talk

hunting, the upward and onward
of trekking Mogollon trails, of blinds
and shallow hiding, masking our scents.

Ruefully, we’ll speak of the fire-ravaged
bark-beetle pine forest, which brings us back
to why he’s here: to dispel

my notions of Hell, to speak
of lions and lambs sitting
at evening tea, reminiscing

about the old days of chase. In this
new earth the rock lizards will cradle
quail eggs, nod gently and whisper

the over and under of reclaiming the bounty
of lost tails in a one-off light.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Have You Spoken


Coagulate is a beautiful word, co-
meaning together and -agulate, the eponymous

heroics once perpetrated by Agula
under grandmother’s yak-skin tent. Aristocracy

was a gorgeous demand; her mouth
jellied with the gristle of wild duck. Like this,

history’s women create words. Hygiene from the story
of Hygienea the wise midwife who rang the birthing cloth

with acidic fats. Confidence means “with Fidencia”
the Frankish bulwark who stood against

the czar and folded the edicts into insects. Pageant from full-lipped
Pagean who charmed waterfalls into rainbows. Sojourn

from the woman who walked the Americas, praying
like the ravens in Aztlán. Yasmin, tomorrow

we will speak you, beyazzed with blessings,
yasminified from fear incarnate.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Invocation at HOOT Postcard Review





My poem, "Invocation", is now on HOOT Review Online (Issue 21, June 2013).
It's a cool concept, literary postcards.