*

A four year old boy is eaten / by the African Painted Dogs in my hometown zoo / after falling into the enclosure. His mother lifted him / on the fence to see the creatures.

I saw an older writer in a slouched-down Fedora, gray beard and long scraggly gray ponytail, who had empty chairs pulled up all around him, at the Loser Café, maybe for his imaginary friends, or maybe those who were already gone.

I’m going to tell you what we found: / the sick black smudges, their signatures / on our kitchen wall, the half-crushed shells / of aluminum cans clustered like rock oysters

The bones are chilled now, past/ invigorations of the coming spring// and its entanglements

They called her Mona Lisa Because neither her mouth nor her mind were Firmly made up. Is that a smile? Derision? Doubt? But I like it As much as you Like it, she says So let’s not Get confused Is that a smile? Derision? Do

Sitting in an empty Chinese restaurant that’s just opened at 11 a.m. Sipping a small cup of tea Heavy rain outside, slightly chilled Thinking about our leaking roof in our studio Waiting for the roofers to come out and patch it Even though it’s