At 5:00 a.m ( Read more... )

I found this poem in a stack of old papers as I'm trying to extricate the contents of my old office and put it in storage so that it can become Fiona's bedroom. I wrote it, apparently, ten years ago. My efforts to dabble with poetry have been very few, sporadic, and certainly not very good ( Read more... )

Since I buy cheap-ass shoes at Payless, and the heels wear down quickly, I develop holes in my shoes, and pebbles often get lodged in there. When I start to hear rattling noises when I walk, I take off the shoe and patiently wedge the hole open with a finger or paperclip, until I pry the pebble out of the hole in the heel and throw it away ( Read more... )

An Earl Grey day
mist like light through pewter
I bicycle to work
the knees creak
breath burns in the lungs
life is hard
mud and grease
and ingratitude
weariness that cuts to the bone
work
and home
and cook
and clean
eat a chocolate-covered coffee bean

After shoveling snow in the dark ( Read more... )

no sun ( Read more... )

Twigs, barren of buds
As the breeze tosses branches
The shadows tremble

Louring clouds, gray and flat,
Obscure the pale spring sunlight
Stealing all shadows

The night before her death ( Read more... )

As a creativity exercise, I pulled out my old Magnetic Poetry kit. After a half hour of messing around, I came up with this:

The goddess of chocolate
dreams of lovers' tongues
languid with lust
licking her essential sweetness
she drools as she dreams
gorgeous
and luscious
and so easy