Book o’ Verse

It’s the smiley that really breaks my heart
the little happy face you
tack on
right after you break goodbye, say the news, share that thing.
You’re happy. And I’m glad for it.
But where is your nose?
Now who … Read on Macduff...

Don’t hold on to that wall.
Don’t let it pull you backward
to its fixed side.
Hold my hand
and now we glide.

Airplane seats never fit his body.
Not just his legs,
though there wasn’t enough legroom, that was for sure.
And you lower the tray and it goes right up
into his rib cage, like he’s a grown man
sitting in … Read on Macduff...

I was so angry, so spinning with all my anger
I remember at one point saying to a good buddy
that I was going to tell everyone I met
for the next TEN years:
“if you meet someone named [her … Read on Macduff...

I signed a lot of stuff today
and I don’t mean to brag
but no.
I do.
It was the way
I curved that capital “C” in Cecil.
and looped the “l.”
My graceful scoop.
The pen’s hurled weight… Read on Macduff...

If we’re all drawing a face together
I don’t want to draw the mouth.
I’ll draw the hair —
just lines, loose and easy.
Or the eyes.
But not the lips.
The way they curve and join
and hold back… Read on Macduff...

Forgot an old friend's name tonight. I
thought it was "David Shapiro,
of Kansas" but it's not, is it?
It's something else, something
equally
common
unsearchable.
Or maybe it is?

Lordy lordy I've
lost all
confidence.

“It’s a multiple of a lot of different things.”
Then somewhere down the line, you find yourself saying
“It’s a syndrome.”
You’re giving 75/25. Or 65/35.
Holding back.
Not out of laziness but from some sense
that things are finite … Read on Macduff...

Never gave thanks.
Never had blogs.
Owned slaves. Some of them owned slaves.
Were shorter than us on average.

Yes, some of them fought against it
tried to move things
forward
toward

a blinding
bright world
but

not all of 

We played with sticks for a while, my people
looking for wood that was strong and flexible,
turning it into specialized sticks.
Sticks for scratching
for digging out hard to reach
infected patches.
Then we made the Torah.