Book o’ Verse

She gave me a car and I turned it
into an ashtray. Tapping one hand out

the window the white flakes
floating off onto my pants.
“I saw Dan. He was smoking in the car.”

And I don’t blame anyone. … Read on Macduff...

The trout-spread gluten-free bread 
toast was good
but I’ll be honest with you. 

I experienced it as great. 
And I’m trying to figure out why.

Previously, it had been spectacular. 
The kind of trout-spread gluten-free bread

toast you tell people … Read on Macduff...

In Holland back in the 70s
most of the houses didn't do Halloween 
so my mom would drive us around town
looking for lit lanterns in windows.

There might be three or four blocks of driving
before we spotted a 

There comes a time when
shoe-tying is
serious business.

High stakes.

Like, I’m starting to think
all my shoe-tying up till now
was just about
getting ready for

< bends >
< ties >
< upright >

like that.

Take off your glasses Dan
let the trees blur
soft let the sound
cotton fluff let
the smell haze pulse
let your thoughts
melt like a plastic bag
you flicked with a lighter so
the words drop and
splash the … Read on Macduff...

Post-it notes in the air.
Finding his way

from the east side, near Grand Central
to a friend’s place in Brooklyn

over the Manhattan Bridge
by foot.

Everyone was walking in the same direction.

Finding your rhythm
there are familiar patterns you can scratch at
to remind yourself
your feet are your feet.

You drag them along in new sneakers

no matter what sidewalk
you’re pounding
it’s still

those same toes.

A beep from the phone
a text from someone and
why not let it sit? Perhaps it wants to sit.

Maybe it will
ferment or blossom decay
or dissolve
into a small pinch of
dirt in your slacks

given
enough … Read on Macduff...

Wonderful, powerful, important words
I found today in Deuteronomy:

“for our lasting good.”

“Our” in this case, a people. Not a person.
“Lasting,” to think past the moment.

Now there — there is a phrase worth diagramming.

Worth pondering, worth … Read on Macduff...