Rampant Day
The day heatedup, sweatysun outthen muggilycloudy cozywaitingfor the eveninglike this morningsteamily waftinglike the treetopswavingin the warningof the...
Hibiscus
A folio of other,owned,used up gas nozzleof girl/woman.Underpass bedroomfor the drought version of you,in you,childhood brokeredfor blankets.Body etched with...
Brown Sweater
Sol works the polling place atthe corner of Charming and 73rdLast night he laid out his brownsweater He brought his lunch withhim so he would not have to...
Armadillo
An armadillo works Larry’s compost—a pile of last year’s grass—for grubs and earthworms.The worms love the compost.The armadillo loves the worms.For a...
Inferno
I’ve been dead beforeso I can write with authoritydidn‘t care for it muchtoo much noise, everyone talking at oncethe television was always onthe radio tuned...
Door Opening
“Open the door,” says my guiding one,Keep opening.Let in the tiny feathers, the snowflakes, and the fog.Let in the quiet of wet pine needles, standing...
On The Couch
When I wait and seewhat words come to methey always have significance—just like the 4 days a week I spentfree associating on a couchat the New York...
The Fine Art of Suspension
Hebe Watering Zeus Eagle:Johann Baptist LampiA night shadow, bold and fringed,crosses the moon. Tamed by gravity,an eagle lands on a woman’s wrist,the flesh...
Dorothy Bikes Brazilian Backlands
(along The Caminho Da Fé, Minas Gerais, Brazil. July 2008)after Petrarch’s Sonnet 35 Lone and pensive I pedaled bare, coldsertão (in slowed doubt) geared to...
I Find Solace in Old Europe
The impatient moan of an Alpinewind sifts my chalet window’s gap.As a cast of clouds unwraps the skywith its dismal mists and itsnorthern winds I find...
Blue Mermaid
(The following is excerpted from a novel-in-progress set in the 18th century on Saint-Louis Island, Senegal)Crouching to meet the boy at his own height,...
At the End of the Road, No Regrets
Eddie Lee Smith knew how far she’d come and felt properly grateful. Sage Scanlon, the pen name she’d finally decided on, danced on the covers of half a dozen...
I Miss the Fuzzy Dice
The car pulls upand I’d see them, hanging therefuzzy,tacky,an announcementfrom the driver: I take chancesand I want the whole world to know.I’d cringe,...
The Fruit Must Drop
A familiar home becomes too foreign to bear.Transformation hangs heavier than gravitywaiting patiently, swaying in warm moist air.Deep inside, the little...
Up the Boohai
It was Shailee’s first car, a brand new shiny, ice blue Subaru. After driving the hand-me-down 97 model Honda Accord, for 21 years, the Subaru was a...
Old John
Our ginger cat liked to sleep on John’s front stoop. Although we were next-door neighbors, we had barely gotten beyond hello with John. The cat had a closer...
Willow Lake Prayer
Empty my bodyFill my bones with moonlight dancing on the waterFill my heart with elder petals and cicada songFill my soul with fern fronds and featherLet my...
Milk Carton Girl
Mother — I am not missing.I am not lost. Crow-likemen stole me, a shiny new ringto hide in their nest of girls.Mother — Don’t look where trainsdrag graffiti...
L'amour à Monte Carlo
Casino de Monte Carlo, a lover’s chance meeting.“J’aime,” his remarque, a most forward fond greeting.They stroll to a park, a Monaco eve.They gaze and walk...
Dorothy Pillories a Kipling Translator to Her Idea of Regina
(During the first day of the Brazilian Association of Comparative Literature’s 11th Conference. São Paulo, Brazil. July 2008) If what I cravegives as...