5 am and I’m crying when I wake. Metaphor’s too gentle For what I want to say. There’s simplicity in the simile Like cracks in glass. I’ve got nothing left to offer Save the truth and my past. Like drums that beat and sirens blare, Like ripping nails, falling hair. Starving and forcing my bodyContinue reading “Lies”
Category Archives: Poetry
The 30 Year Locust
I. Relapse Winter now. Cicada nymphs sleep In little crypts behind my house. Given the choice to rise or to die, I’d stay in my bed and turn off the lights. II. Recovery Raise yourself from the ground, little one. Break free from your rigid shell, Climb the tallest whitest oak And scream. III. RespiteContinue reading “The 30 Year Locust”
Crickets
The crickets are chirping. It’s still early afternoon. Between the sun and I Came an unfeeling moon. Now everything’s weird. All the birds disappeared, And the lake, oh, our lake! Has begun to freeze.
Inherent
I am woman. I am Earth. From lava I was born, to lava I’ll return. And when the black ocean stops me hard in my tracks I’ll carve out a home as my island expands. The ocean and I, we become best friends. As no one can halt that which never ends. Progress, growth, they’reContinue reading “Inherent”
Dunedin
My satin slip, your pink shorts, One Cymbeline afternoon. Yet our fate was like Macbeth, Cursed. Bloody. Doomed.
Seaworthy
For thirty years I rode this ship, retching off the side. Finally got my sea legs, now I look ahead and find Air so rich; that water, blue… The sun looks proud of me, and I may yet impress the moon. Now the children call me captain. So, I teach them what I can. KeepContinue reading “Seaworthy”
Homecoming
She was a serpent, my wrathful heart. Her door, an unhinged jaw Meant to welcome all the lovers Who’ve left me and stayed gone. Now, my heart’s a bedroom. Lights on, door slightly cracked. You’re stepping softly down the hall. Knocking, you whisper, “I’m back.”
Knoxville
A bundle of barbed wire abandoned in the middle of I-40 Captures the rare eloquence of my hometown. Where the greatest minds of nuclear science gather Alongside passels and rabbit herds. See that hawk there. The headless squirrel in its beak Reminds you not to leave the dog outside too long. In the herbarium theyContinue reading “Knoxville”
Beach Wedding
In my dream, You told me she and what’s-his-name Were seen together at the Lamon’s in Turkey Creek. Incredible, how hurt radiates like ripples on the water And grief lands heavy with a splash.
Sparks Above the District
Cigarette ends omit an amberesque glow Barely bright enough to illuminate The white trash vaudevillians carrying on in the dark. Whisky tinted eyes blur her rosé hair Into a firecracker tail streaking down 2nd Ave. Our superficial sojourn becomes legend in one runny mascara blink. On a hill overlooking the Cumberland, We throw up ourContinue reading “Sparks Above the District”