At the Office Holiday Party
I can now confirm that I am not just fatter
than everyone I work with, but I’m also fatter
than all their spouses.
Awards
My Uncle Asked
can you write about me?
tell your readers i was the last
ndn to stand on that rock before they blasted
crazy horse’s face into its cracks and flat slopes.
Baby Love
Gregory had a mole below his left eye
and sometimes kids in our 5th grade class
would tease him, saying he had chocolate
on his face.
Self-Portrait with the Smithfield Ham …
Mother, for once, it wasn’t your fault.
You always said you can’t soak hams
long enough and one full day and night
seemed adequate, but we gave it two,
scrubbed mold, rind, salt away, changed
the water, tucked it like a baby in its bath;
another day, rinsed, patted dry, made ready.
On Loved Ones Telling the Dying to ‘Let Go’
Don’t bother yourselves. Really.
We’re not “clinging,” as you put it
with your gentle scorn for the inept—
“clinging to life” like a minnow too dumb
to expire when a rain pool dries up.
Sparrow
What did you eat today, Mom?
She says tuna.
The correct answer is crust from a lemon
pound cake she shredded with her chewed fingers
then puzzled together.