For Therapy, I Mix Metaphors
From a frozen wedge of machine-split pine,tossed on this settling fire, one frayed, martyredfiber curls back and away like a...
Captives
Life and time have held us captives— turnedThe moon an imposter in the affairs of the night.
The justice-chirping canaries of yesterday have buriedTheir preaching...
AGENT OF CHANGE
During the WinterOf your discontentYou craveThe warm embrace of Spring,Knowing it will fade away toThe scintillating heatOf SummerBut you need not worry.No!Because...
The Pianist
Władysław Szpilman in Warsaw
Music grows on wave crests.When the sails of sound are at half-mast,music breaks up into pebbles.Each soloist is a finger...
Change of Elevation
When we first moved here, birds—red-headed house finches, I believe,a family—twittering high up
in the blue spruce that hangsfrom the neighbor’s yard. You...
The Vision of Meribah
I Meribah,granddaughter of Amenemhat,beloved of Ishmael,recite my ancestors’ lessonsso that you, my child, may teach them to your own.
It is through...
Hollywood, Paris, Covid
We both had positive Covid tests aftercelebrating New Year’s Eve a few daysearlier. Her ex sent her a text saying hewasn't vaccinating...
A Simple MachineThe noose that was used to hang John Brown is allegedly in the permanent collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Frayed and wild...
The following poem was translated from Zarpamos, a selection ofpoems by the Oaxacan poet Guadalupe Ángela, translated from Spanishinto English by Yael Kiken. This...
