Flowers of the Prairie
I saw your face on a clear night,across the plains of Texas.You shown so brightlythat the night looked likea tempest in the afternoon.I wandered out to...
2020 Sunsets - June - “Light of Love Breaking through the Devastating Haze from California Fires”
The ‘stay at home’ regimen of 2020 due to the pandemic had many down sides, but it did have one upside for myself. Staying at home gave me the excuse to...
Juniper Berries
my legs don’t usually drink,but when they do, they imbibe martinisto unwind what nature, scalpelsand sutures have wrought,with oil of juniper berries,those...
NOW
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, … to be born.Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, … for...
Here We Go Loop De Loop
An Excerpt from the novelMarty stared at her forty-two-year-old nude body in the full-length bathroom mirror. “This is what middle-age looks like, kid. You...
Adopted
The family flees my bedsidewhen vertigo turns to vomitingBut the new stray cat staysStares in hair-ball camaraderieWatches with what seemsto be unconditional...
The Lake
She’s not struggling anymore. Dawn’s light creeps over the tips of the white oaks and sassafras trees, encouraging the Ozarks to bloom. There is a stillness...
Expect No Good
A kind of madness—summer in March.Blossoms, too trusting to discernthe danger, were stripped from their stems when winterreturned in April. Expect no...
Virgil on the Pier
Lil and me were an item. That Friday night we were heading down to the pier to ride the tilt-a-whirl so’s she’d scream and hug up against me till I got all...
The Year Mom Learned Macramé
The year mom learned macrame my brother kicked a hole in the bathroom door where he’d chased me and I locked myself in, crying in frustration about so much...
A Million Sunrises
There is nothing quite as soft ~Like a small butterfly’sGood morning kissDay breaks into songI sit wrapped inThe arms of mighty oaksUnderneath translucent...
I Searched for Ernest
I searched for Ernest et alon a pallid gray day in Paris.I pondered the air where they met.I coursed Parisian rues where they strolled.Fitzgerald dined where...
I Got This
The roots of my disorder stretch back to childhood. Events, some in my family, some external, have likely exacerbated an illness I already had, or perhaps...
The Maze
My memory is like a mazeLots of people have walked inAnd there were they lostMaybe it was meant to be funBut these people are now caged in my recordingsAnd...
Credo
One day when I'm dead I won't really bedead is what I'm told at church and SundaySchool, I'll be more alive than ever iswhat they say and I'm ten years old...
Cat Man
(In Memory of Ray Brannon) Walks downtown, Paying visits to the garbage, To the alleys. His gray hair and beard, an umbrella Over shabby raincoat. Recites...
It is a Tree
It is a treeA birdThe seaMy breastTheir bodiesSmall perfect shellsSorrow enteredOur bedBodyBabySlanted BreathSome dayWill you acheLike I acheBurl in the...
In the Middle of Cancer
I thought I wouldn't be myself anymorejust on the edge of all that chemo,which I walked, step by infusionfor months, scared but mostlytired, bored, thrashing...
The Mask
I so dislike the maskI’m sure it has to beBut now I cannot seeYour smile or Hear your laugh.It just doesn’t sound the same, more like a huff.Driving up to...
Issue 10: Spring 2021
Flowers are blooming, trees are leafing, and writers are starting to eMerge this Spring. Come and join us at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow anytime,...