So God Will Know You
Go out, get us some money
and kill a dog. Take this coat,
this book of matches, a knife
from the wall to kill a dog
on the way.
Brushscape
Image: “Forage” by Tammy Nara. “Brushscape” was written by Samuel Ertelt for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2024, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
Dear Proofreader
You’re right. I meant “midst,” not “mist.”
I don’t know what I was stinking,
I mean thinking, soap speaks intimately
to my skin every day.
As Fire, My Father
My father as fire melts December snow
with each step he takes through a Pennsylvania field.
But there is no field there is no snow
Trump Says My College Town Has Immigrants Who Are Eating Their Pets
We used to dance at the Regency Room in downtown Springfield on some
Thursday nights on Fountain Boulevard, all of us getting a ride
from whomever had a car and would take us there.