After the President Calls Citizens ‘Sons of Bitches’
As I watch the line of men drop to their knees, refusing to praise
the God of country, the most jealous and vengeful God of...
Are You a Self-Identified Black Woman?
Are you eligible to partake in academia? Question your acceptance letter? Not writing the other perspective? Missing the point of the assignment? Do you...
I Likened Her Hair to a River
I never thought I would go through with a one-night stand. Not because I’m religious; although I did die with salvation on the cross...
it’s hard to get a bead on god
Sometimes I try belief like a hat,
tilting to see how things appear
under a brim. Run my finger
along the edge of a hollow & stride
through...
Into Love
Every kiss that was ever kissed—
every smile, every baby’s delight,
a first step, a face that hides
and comes back, a belly laugh—
every morning of gladness,
gladness,...
Song at the End of the Mind
I think of you as a radio frequency—
sometimes hard to find
as I touch the illuminated dial.
But tonight you arrive
murmuring into my ear in halfsleep;
you...
Your Beautiful Robot Face!
A playful yet poignant poem from a dystopian future. In Dustin Luke Nelson's world, robots have replaced humans but live indistinguishably from their organic predecessors
Farmer’s Market in Pandemic
The Saturday rite is now a drive-by:
we’re all laid back in our masks
awaiting our turn. The line
stretches far down the street;
no one expects to...
An Odyssey
Day like rain, a cast iron crow
Furling its wings in thin emptiness
My heavy body holds the wound
Deep inside black iron cloud
Raining down when the...
Shelter
Went to the meditation but only the snowed-in cardinals
heard me. Far from any port, we’re weighted by anchors
made of phantoms. A few minutes of...
Megafauna
My hairstylist says
she loves Las Vegas
because it’s covered
in rhinestones.
I love rhinoceroses.
They are my favorite
odd-toed ungulates.
When rhinoceroses
get together
it is called a crash.
I would like
to get...
Remembrance Day
for John W. Pritchard, Jr.
We should remember
all the dead of
the Sixth Marines.
They survived
the Battle of Okinawa,
its rot stench under
a "typhoon of steel,"
then they prepared...