Her name is June, though she's willow as spring. I am coast live oak in the fall. She is a dimple in milk-glass skin. I am skin corrugated like bark. We sail a butterfly kite at the beach; when she cartwheels, her hair anoints the sand. I pace myself and search for its offerings— bi-valve… Continue reading Willow and Bark
Month: June 2019
To a Hawk Mantling
Mantling: When birds of prey hunch their shoulders and spread their wings over a kill to keep it hidden from other predators. To a Hawk Mantling It all comes down to this harrier hawk, and a vision intense as the smell of bleeding. It comes to the rabbit under her wings, a creature that moments ago was breathing.… Continue reading To a Hawk Mantling
What Happens Next? You Asked Me That Night
As I knelt by your head, held your long fingers and dripped the morphine under your tongue. When you are ready, follow the light. But later I wished I had asked you instead: Where are you now, my Father, my friend? Are you an elder in opiate dreams, while prayers like ghosts hover over your bed? Are… Continue reading What Happens Next? You Asked Me That Night
Teach Your Children Well
Make sure they find mica in the ground— pinch the rock skin peeled and browned, the waxy, starry silicate layered like staircases in granite. Make certain they sample honeysuckle that grips a country fence, and they suck all the nectar from the hair-thin stopper pulled from inside, a party popper. Make sure they… Continue reading Teach Your Children Well