Prose, Poetry, and Art since 1956
That’s how the cornin its summer song of silk and husk, its tassels waving across the field, calling to rat and raven; how my mother, before she lost her heartand lungs; how my brother-in-law, before he lost his brainand tongue, his hulking body swayingas I came into the kitchen and said Stay strong; before his tumor grew back with teeth and claws, stealinghis thoughts; how…
Image: Photo by Melani Sosa, via Unsplash.
Against an unsettled skyline puncturedby flit & bird-shadow, song & plummet, someone else’s history unfurls beforethe ghost of my grandfather can wrap his huge dead hands over my son’s not-yet-dead eyes. Is this what it means to witness? To confess? To forgive? Today, we’re strugglingless with conjugating the white half of his blood. Sing. Song. Sung. Sorry. The sun once lit & nownothing seems to…
July, blue chlorine bulbglittering pool light ripplingand blurred body billow held in black bead of nightdusky spruce and cedar outlinebackyard under hazed moon little stars, backyard spotlighttonguing a path of grassbeside the cellar doors. Wishing to be older & say that we had,our little bathing suit bottoms slip downthe highway of twiggy legs, we submergeto our necks in hot water, flirts of summerwater splashing our…
The Dog days of Summer are here. What does that mean? For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere it means Sirius, the brightest star in our night sky, begins its rise over the eastern horizon. It means we enter the hottest part of the summer. It’s a time associated with drought, fires, fevers, thunderstorms, bad luck, and way too much heat. We propose the…