There is an old tradition that women are allowed and encouraged to ask men to marry them on Leap Day, and the man is required to say yes. If he doesn't say yes, he has to present the woman with a silk dress and a kiss, so I proposed to a friend today and this is what he sent in reply.

Handy Guide
By Dean YoungAvoid adjectives of scale ( Read more... )

Every sunrise, even strangers’ eyes.

Not necessarily swans, even crows,

even the evening fusillade of bats.

That place where the creek goes underground,

how many weeks before I see you again?

Stacks of books, every page, characters’

rages and poets’ strange contraptions

of syntax and song, every song

even when there isn’t one.

Every thistle, splinter, ( Read more... )

The rhythms pronounce themselves then vanish ( Read more... )

How goofy and horrible is life. Just ( Read more... )

Teetering Lullaby ( Read more... )

Beloved EscapeeOut of longing, you rowed into the horizon ( Read more... )

Ash Ode

When I saw you ahead I ran two blocks
shouting your name then realizing it wasn’t
you but some alarmed pretender, I went on
running, shouting now into the sky,
continuing your fame and luster. Since I've
been incinerated, I've oft returned to this thought,
that all things loved are pursued and never caught,
even as you slept beside me you were ( Read more... )

Ash Ode

When I saw you ahead I ran two blocks
shouting your name then realizing it wasn’t
you but some alarmed pretender, I went on
running, shouting now into the sky,
continuing your fame and luster. Since I've
been incinerated, I've oft returned to this thought,
that all things loved are pursued and never caught,
even as you slept beside me you were ( Read more... )

Commencement Address by Dean Young ( Read more... )

PlatypusYour pink cowboy hat is my vagina ( Read more... )