Sea Devil
It was not curiosity so much as
a calling that brought the fish
paddling up through the gradient
of ocean, the hideous yaw
of her mouth opened as if
in astonishment, exposing
the rows & rows of teeth
Poets Respond
Considering Starlink
While we tussle with thoughts of Elon Musk, of Earth,
the Moon and Mars, our particles adrift——
the stars and satellites that light our paths——
Two-Hour Delay
It’s February and already
I’ve overspent my budgeted bewilderment
for the year, most of it on deep & constant
sorrow: war, deportations, deployments, hatred
forged into policy, theft, dead phone lines
and locked doors.
The Skaters
At the rink, they whoosh, these little bundled
Beings, their scarves graffitiing the air
My daughter weaving among them, her long legs
Pumping, the bright pink kitty earmuffs, a blur
Insomnia Chronicles XXVI
The night is full of insomniacs googling insomnia. Some of my friends are trying Dry January. Dryuary. Others are sober curious. There’s a mock cocktail called a Phony Negroni. It’s made with non-alcoholic gin. Phony Negroni. Phony baloney. When I was eight, my brother and I were walking by a house in our neighborhood when suddenly a slab of baloney sailed through the air and stuck to a chain link fence.
LA Is Burning, Countries Are at War, and I Am So Damn Grateful for My Shower
And god said, Let there be showers!—
and water fell on the bowed heads and shoulders
of people throughout the land, and sluiced
over breasts and bellies and buttocks,