OBLIGATORY ODE

Praise poems, rhymed 

sonnets, lusty 

paeans filled with flowers—

come midsummer, prime
detritus like this just

proliferates

like clover. But break

out the backhoe;

mow it all down; 

rip it up 

by the roots in 

a huff, if you must—

any move 

as such becomes part

of the dumbshow.

Even your most 

heartless, narrowed 

burn on lazy bees and finches

is the glaze crack 

that clinches an authentic 

grecian urn; it's 

the left eye 

of a blackbird—one of many

raindrops gathered

 
on a red and rusty
barrow—the last line 

before the turn.

CATECHISM

What is death?—

     Not an opportunist,

     but a highly skilled

     and scientifically

     literate terrorist.

     Luckily, life is not
     a nuclear submarine—

     that is,

     it didn’t come

     with any blueprints.

What then, is life?—

     A game
     whose number one rule is

     if you think it’s a game, 

     then in this moment, 

     you’re losing. 

Losing? 

     Catching moments 

     like fish 

     in a translucent lake

     even though you know you'll have 

     to throw them back before you go. 

And this moment?—

     The ongoing affliction
     of not being able to decide

     if you’d rather have
     yesterday back
     or tomorrow.

Yesterday I've heard of, but 

what the hell's tomorrow?—

     Blameless sweet white
     frosting on a birthday cake.

     Each year, under 

     greater threat 

     of caramelization into sorrow

     from the innocuous addition
     of one more slight flame. 

And sorrow? 

     Any time during 

     when you suspect

     there might be an ending 

     to this game.

IMPERFECT OFFERING

          The better the singer’s voice, 

          the harder it is to believe 

          what they’re saying.

               -David Byrne, Stop Making Sense  

Manna is prone 

to mealworms 

or mold; iridescence 

heralds both 

fever and death. 

As any city 

pigeon knows:

freedom’s wings 

may come 

stapled to rats—and 

Eden’s fruit is filled 

with pith—still, 

gutters grant quick

baptismal baths, 

and you do not need 

to sing the beautiful

for the sound you 

make to be the truth.

YOU COULD BE MISTAKEN

Jonah too at first
thought he was large.

Or perhaps it was
the opposite: too slight
to get swallowed.

Is there such a thing
as an ordinary vision?

You have heard hatred’s 

trochees marching 

lockstep in your sleep

and seen the herringbone 

marks of large 

teeth on your arm

with no idea how 

they got there. Maybe 

right versus wrong 

is charade. Maybe it's simpler: 

if you parade around acting 

well-fed and not limping,

you too will be followed. 

Or maybe you were made
to stay in one place and shine

like the sun—the only thing 

in this preposterous universe

too plain to need a name.

WALKING AFTER JESUS

Crush a rose

with your heel

if you want. Still 

it will bless

your foot

with its scent.

WHY I STILL WRITE

A lighthouse doesn’t 

cry out

or run 

all around 

the island's coast;

it just keeps 

repeating the one 

thing it does

and hopefully 

helps a few boats.

LAWS OF INERTIA

Never mind romantic notions

of agape and eros;

there are two kinds of love 

we the stricken know of:

the one we’re so stuffed with

it billows from our pores like magic—

at night we can barely 

shut our eyes

and each caress and kiss
feels tantric—and of course

the next-morning kind

which we walk around so light on

that every time we take
a step, it’s like 

we glide 

into oncoming traffic.