Chionodoxa Do Not Understand Tariffs
I tried to explain to the flowers
on the banks of Akerselva
that they honestly had chosen
an awful time to sprout.
Why We Need Bodies
A song remains unheard unless it passes
through some body’s throat. This morning
I watched a wren nibble apart a beetle
and digest it into birdsong.
What Did You Call Me?
Amazon, anile, babe, bag, banshee, battle-axe, bimbo, bint, bird, bitch, broad, butch, buxom, cat lady, chaste, chick, crone, cougar, crumpet, cunt, cutie, dame, dish, dog, dyke, emasculator, enchantress, fanny, femme, fishy, floozy, flirt …
While Plum Blossoms Sweep Down Like Snow
What you found was not what you sought.
What you loved was not what you thought.
Pima Canyon
Do I look scrawny? Elizabeth asked, on her miserable Parkinson’s diet,
no more foods she loved, she wasn’t supposed to drink
but she was drinking a little, red wine, because you can’t forgo everything,
and you can’t secrete a protective layer like a tree frog
or stay still as a cottontail or pretend you’re a stick or rock or flower
to keep yourself safe, the world seeps in no matter what.
Big Naked Man
Slumps, glowering,
ten feet tall
in a corner of the white museum.