1106 12 9
|
I smelled the bleach of burst anemones
the sweet arousal of the Dungeness crabs
the seaweed of sour twigs and feces
|
1677 12 9
|
the Great Way itself is very smooth and straight,/but folks take to the challenge of rough, wild roads.
|
1481 9 10
|
When we were seventeen, after her dad, the preacher, finished his Sunday night church services that required our mandatory attendance, we'd walk to my car in the pasture-turned parking lot holding hands and stop at the passenger-side car door to kiss deeply, get…
|
857 11 9
|
He fished a tissue from a hidden pocket and dabbed his forehead, then called the cops.
|
1432 14 9
|
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1344 11 10
|
It was just lying there by the side of the road next to a mailbox, pockets turned out, weeds kinda rolled flat around it. I counted three nickels, a dime, and a cigar butt too. I could sure use the change for gum, but I didn't want to get near it. It looked dead,…
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263 17 8
|
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1365 15 9
|
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1786 13 7
|
If I had a daughter, this it how it would be. It would be all, Stand up straight, missy, shoulders back, no slouching, and she'd be sulky, sullen, pouting, wilful, and I'd see in her eyes, which would be my eyes, that she was starting to hate me, and I'd
|
1355 10 9
|
Abominables do roam the earth; I know it.
|
2005 9 9
|
I guess the ultimate, penultimate failure
would be to write a love poem that
turned on everybody but you.
|
1640 10 9
|
We watch the news together every day.
10 minutes total; flashes of tragedy broken up with fluffy current events.
|
1453 7 6
|
Revocable Love It was easy lying there with My head on her left breast Listening to the strong Business-like beating of Her heart. She looked down and said Quietly, I told you my love Was revocable. I give it To many men and then I take It back. …
|
833 11 9
|
untilled, weedy, left to rest
|
1259 12 9
|
anxiety
said Kierkegaard
is the dizziness
of freedom
|
1382 2 1
|
Pull her from the water and check
her pockets. Shouldn’t death tattoo
a message on each palm it removes
the pulse from.
|
1608 0 1
|
I watch my brother carry her into the hospital, and I love him with parts of myself I didn’t know were capable of love. I love my brother with the space behind my eyes, the skin between my fingers, the ends of my hair, the crease in my neck. I love him wi
|
1674 9 6
|
A friend of mine recently died and went to Heaven, or so I innocently thought. It was only when I received a letter a month later postmarked “The Island of Final Regrets” that I realized he was still in transit.
|
867 14 9
|
... and August's drought/
will yellow lawns, singe the shrubs,/
and amplify cicada song.
|
2113 22 8
|
"...when my daddy found out about Jasper, it was too late— mama was already round-&-radiant with Jasper's child. "
|
1793 7 4
|
Katie loved butterflies. Katie loved daisies. Mainly, Katie loved presents.
|
1203 12 8
|
the two become one where/
all things end,
|
1496 14 8
|
You always complained that Christmas/
ruined your birthday/
sister.
|
972 14 8
|
The old lady is losing her memory. She forgets people's names yet so familiar to her. A little sheepish, she takes her basket and walks to the village. Just like when her legs were young, suntanned, shapely and attractive. Along the footpath, by the shop windows, over the…
|
1534 11 9
|
Five years ago, on January 15, 2009, Flight 1549 took off for Charlotte, North Carolina and, 3 minutes later, made an emergency landing in the Hudson River, with no serious harm to anyone but the geese who caused the problem. (They were liquefied into something…
|
1516 18 7
|
the heat and energy it takes
|
1298 15 8
|
Susan said since her divorce three years ago there have been too many Jacks in her life. Seven, if she counted that older guy. She knew that now. Too many. It was the name and little else that drew her to men. She told me the name alone was like Pavlov's bell. It…
|
1281 10 9
|
...when they decided to teach her a lesson, it was with particular vigor and vitriol...
|
1422 18 8
|
She’s there, in a tin, loosely wound
beneath sepia tissue paper, a braid
to worry in your fingers.
|
1579 10 9
|
poets can kill, or at least they once could:/
perhaps poems tamed us, if they are any good.
|