An American Alphabet*
*Or more aptly titled, A White American Alphabet--26 Letters Towards A Language of Repair.
A is for the Allen residence.
The Allen residence is where Wendell...
My First Reading, St. Mark’s Poetry Project, 1975
I gave my first major public poetry reading in June 1975. It was the St. Mark’s Poetry Project annual workshop reading. All of the...
Love in the Time of COVID: Have Our Lives Changed Forever?...
Our little mid-century ranch, with its limestone exterior and big picture window, sits clustered together with other mid-century homes—tri-levels and A-frames—in a neighborhood that...
How I Became Greta and Alan
For an absolute stranger, Bob Coyne calls a lot. Over the past two years or so he has called at least once and sometimes...
Shame and Blessings at the Coin-Op
Just before the virus drifted into the world, a friend I’d recently met texted that she was nervous. Her washing machine had broken at...
Her Name Was Nina
I didn’t know this baby. I didn’t know what she looked like apart from a couple of surprisingly cute ultrasound printouts. I didn’t know...
the long way to a small, angry inbox
Normally, this wouldn’t matter so much.
A few nights ago, I logged into an old Yahoo account that I habitually checked and used for retrospective...
Off.
As usual, you start with the door to the fire escape. You see that the latch is locked but you unlock it anyway. Now...
When Death Comes From the Skies
The first plane appeared in the eastern sky at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a member of the Condor Legion, a Nazi...
For Greenwood
When my husband and I were much younger and had more leisure time, we decided to binge-watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was my...
Chisinau, 2017
There are moments of stillness and moments of motion. The evening of my arrival in Chisinau, I take a slow walk down the frozen...
Love Letter to My Soon to Be 13-Year-Old Black Son
Dear Sonshine,
That’s what I call you because the mere sight of your go big or go home smile is like the sun filtering through...