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4 o' clock

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I still walk into galleries. A shadow of my old self still walks into galleries. That old self was hungry to be wounded by the juxtaposition of color and form and texture and line and darkness and light. But I can no longer see art. I can…

Tuna Salad In Cat Heaven

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I ate a tuna salad sandwich for lunch.

The Taco Stand

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This happened to me on Friday, May 3, 2002 in North Austin on the corner of North Lamar and Mulberry Street.

Ladies' Day At Sam's Place

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I'm warming my stool at the far end of the bar as usual, nursing my fourth draft on a balmy Wednesday afternoon when I lock eyes with this lady who's bashing her head through the front door. You've heard the expression, “50-yard fox,” right? —Looks…

Watching

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An anorexic middle-aged woman walked up and watched me..

Meticulous

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Have you measured the cups, the conveyors' yield? Do you know the span? I am the LORD your God, she murmured.

Ashes

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Now, the Midwest was ashes. The oceans were covered with hydroponics plant growth.

Let’s Swing

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You don’t want to tango with me, she said.

The Diary of Anne Frank's Daughter

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Frankly, I would rather die than have my diary published. Now that everyone in the whole world knows Anne’s deepest secrets, I’m sure she would want to kill herself anyway.

Max Beckmann Poem

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the unutterable things of this world

Born of Flight

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I can walk among words, Scatter them like birds, to compose two thirds of a poem, when they settle on nearby wires, in an order inspiring wonder. What do they think, when I scatter them asunder. Bring them disarray, Shape them to a…

evening cigarette

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It's short.

Biodegradability

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As a boy I fished under the Tappan Zee bridge which spans the Hudson River above New York City.

Kinesiology

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I tell my doc I’m special, 1 in 1,000,000 special: unhitched, pushing 44, and knocked up. "Call Guinness," I joke, and fake jab his right arm. He puts his two hands over mine, smiles gently, like a father.

Mar–a-Lago

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A petition submitted to the Planning Department of Palm Beach Florida requests a zoning variance applied to Mar — a — Lago. Studies, backed by research, have defined Mar-a- Lago, an ideal location for shelter and protection for immigrants, fleeing from…

Night has yet to break its fever

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Even the neighborhood houses show their sunburnt faces and symptoms of heat stroke in the glow of their night lights.

The memories lived in the house

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each act of creation is a jolt of expectation

Light Shot Water

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Where I grew up, you did not venture casually into ocean waters.

My Book of Frozen Ponds

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We broke our hearts rather than sit in your reversible seats with the plain brown paper packages tied on our laps, we did so together. You don't want to hear about that. It gets too close to the actual murder of love. I…

Blood By Pines

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But all that they found at the top was bloody red spatters on pure white snowflakes. And beyond that footprints that got smaller and smaller until they disappeared completely into the spicy green pines.

How to travel with your Demons (3)

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Watch her now as she tries to not smoke. Considers, reconsiders. Checks her nylon bag for her phone charger, and lights a cigarette anyway, which she immediately extinguishes in the kitchen sink.

So Many Questions?

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“Are you my neighbor in 3D?” Was she?

whoring

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I watched myself tilt my head and coyly smile in the bottom right corner of the chat window-the two off-kilter lamps in the room were casting an asymmetrical shadow over half my face.

Fake Empire (Thanks Matt)

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Your voice is yearning, Like a sad song on the radio, A yarn spun to make hearts break.

In the Woods

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...a blunt thrust of a face, uncongenial in profile, and the ubiquitous green cap that says John Deere, with the yellow ideogram of a deer for graduates of our local schools.

First Date

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Both men sip their Cabernet Franc.

Haikus for Miss Winehouse

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Drag queens weep sequins

aromatic

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this bleeding sun, clove studded & seedless

Black House

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I dreamt once a child’s drawing of a house all scribbly black crayon swayback roof crooked chimney. God, do you remember how cold it was that night?

flash poem

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Why flash?because the moments, the moments, they pass in flashes of brilliancethat shudder, death glow alightand nothing makes sense beyond nowand nothing will help me but meand I am not even enoughnot my thoughts or your nod of assentor even the deep sigh of…