Flamingos
I had been out for a walk when I came upon a small child shuffling along the dirt road that ran from the beach to our new neighborhood...
NEW WRITING ON JUSTICE
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The Gift of Whiteness
this is a tale of love… between a man and his property it's filled with ambiance: jasmine breeze, jonquils the twist is the scar of shame...
The Hunger of Ned Greaves
Stefan picked the book from the table by the register. The Hunger of Ned Greaves, Poems by Peter Liu. He opened to the middle and began...
Fairytales are Real
Near the sea steps she inexplicably took his hand and began to run buildings that had not been rebuilt, the streets ambling into autumn...
My Poem Lives a Black-Market Life
In this country it has found the loophole in the system and makes a home in it. And when it breaks down I tinker the spark plugs until...
The Prisoners
Sister, do you know I have your jade bracelet, the one you swore was lucky, that you said saved you that time you almost drowned?
Handbag Parade
On Thursday afternoons, Stephanie and Carol visited their friend Gia. They went every Thursday because Gia had ALS...
The Poetry of Prison
I read the poetry of convicts now that I am ex-,
& letters from a pen pal reminding
the inside never leaves me,
has its own beauty, its...
Old Mike's Body
I didn’t like playing Legend of Boggy Creek. Leonard was always the Fouke Monster, and our cousin Odie and my little brother Jack would...
Role Model
My brother and I could not build our father
like models on the kitchen table
covered with pages of The Detroit News...
Edit in Gasps of Wonder
Although the channel was off limits, he was steering there. For the tip jar to fill, they had to see whales...
Collective Conscience (on Counting Portraits in City Hall)
hunger // hung as excess // twenty-one frames // all men // all white // but one //
El Fin de la Calle
Just last Sunday el padre felt the keen appeal the rites had always had, especially when nailing himself, in a manner of speaking, upon...
Game Day
The roads circling the mall confuse me even when I’m not high. Kick-off isn’t for another three hours, but drivers are still burning down...
Walking Through a Forest in Hunting Season
It was late October
and the woods were filled with hunters
so I put on a fluorescent coat
and tied a shock of blue cloth
around...
The Rising
Here is the rising of the vanished
fifteen million mink,
some luscious brown and ebony,
others snow white
or just raw flesh.
There are People Like that Everywhere
Eileen arrived at the only medical center in McCloskey, sixty-seven hours after her daughter’s accident...
Routine Maintenance
I’m sitting in the Meadows while a western breeze blows the smell of sun-warmed earth and
fresh cut grass. In the distance...