October 2017

because my voice was not the right voice
and could not be understood I stood
before the mirror — a murky glassen word
this mouth can’t shape right to this day — and was made
to watch my teeth and lips being imprecise.
So this is why I come...

The stork arrived alone one day,
beak sharpened like a bayonet.
All the love you’ve had turned bad! he sang,
eyes boring through the dingy nets.
He hopped onto the patio.
Good lord! Is this a rented flat?

                Behind the...

After I turned forty, I received my first 42 millirem dose of X-rays.
I heated the machine with my uncupped body, tabled my rib cage
to cool shoulders dear as a beloved relative who could no longer see
due to intraocular weather in...