Book o’ Verse

I had two foods from my childhood tonight and the sugar cube was a complete let down. All promise, stacked high in that crystalline stack and then collapsed like a wet meringue. Blech. A mouth full of undifferentiated former-cube fragments, trying to escape each other and nowhere good to go.

Trying to find a place that’s not shaded. Damn trees everywhere. I just need one spot where my skin can make contact with the sun. Light is part of the sun, did you know that? It’s not an offshoot or something sparkly the sun shakes loose like water from a dog. It’s more like actual … Read more

You say I’m a snake but snakes move with purpose, right? They lead with their head. Reach with their mouth. Draw a dry belly line with an impulse dotting each turn. Have you ever seen a snake tumble? Or trip? Or twist? Not a snake.

Saw real bikers tonight. Four bikers, they lined up side by side across both lanes with their leather jackets. Comfortable, warm. Cocooned in that roar that they made together.

i dreamt i adopted a dog without a body or a head and we went fishing. afterwards, while I was untangling the line, a nice lady came up to see how my dog and i were doing. “his tail isn’t wagging much,” she said. “i don’t think he’s ok.”

revisiting old poetry books finding bits that didn’t spark for me before but are some how sparking for me now. These words are ripening.

Words are? Holy water runs through you? Maybe? Clouds then? Cameras? And the way they stop things? Guitar holes? A place where music gathers? Words are. Holy water.

I saw you watching when I got up and I want to reassure you, it’s not you, it’s me. It’s not the way you were snapping your fingers. Or how loudly you were breathing. Sure, I don’t like your shirt. But there are lots of shirts here I don’t like. Look at that guy, for … Read more

waiting on line in my mind. everybody cutting and they don’t even know it and hey I was here. getting coffee and a scone but also waiting.

This poem was originally about the joy of lemonade and coffee shops. Over time it became about other things that go away and comes back — like creativity. But these last few weeks, it’s become about missing lemonade and coffee shops again. From The Lavender Lemonade Is Back: Poems and Stories, now available in print/kindle … Read more