We Have Permission
We can swim here—
only fish and shells
to glide with, a full
alternate below-world.
A single language
where breath and tears
are invisible, muted darkness
making us all blind.
There is...
Shelter in Place
The family is the chosen unit of measurement for so many things. During the pandemic, we were instructed to shelter in place, and this...
Zoom Rooms
Their Apologies
I apologize for the inconvenience... I apologize for not emailing sooner... I apologize for missing class... I apologize my assignment is late... I...
Harbinger
On my walk I notice a hint of yellow
on the arched branches of forsythia
that grow over an old rock wall—
the stones handpicked for fit
not...
How Lonely Sat the Town
Quarry houses like napping men flanked us. We were born
on the day of other births, many other births.
Inside the train tracks were the sounds...
The Last Days
In the last days, we press our dirty bodies together
A new kind of prayer—and I am asking you
To be honest with me,
I am asking...
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...
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...
The First Morning of Quarantine
we are standing feet apart between thorny rose vines, some
potted sapling trees. A child, unaware the rules, breathes in,
chokes out, weaving too close to...
To My Daughter, In the Present
If I were to tell you just one thing in between the waves of pandemic
...