Poetry

POETRY

Wearing the Pants

When I was growing up, I went to church — 
 A church that preached that women should wear skirts
 Or dresses only — look the woman’s part — 
 Wear blouses only, never pants and shirts.

POETRY

Typhoon

A spot of warmth, tight twisting, rising air
Atop an ocean, sun-warmed. Rising air

Pulls water, molecule by molecule,
 Reforming droplets in the rising air

POETRY

The Tired Defender

In nothingness the universe began — 
 Asymmetried some 14 billion years
 Ago into cascades of galaxies.

POETRY

Our Vampire Lord

The vampire living on top of the hill
 Has ruled our town with terror centuries.
 He tells us that he keeps us safe and will
 As long as he exists — and we must please
 Him, feed his thirst or, we’ve learned, he will spill
 More blood than we have given him. The…

POETRY

Cowards and Tragic Heroes

The coward destroys, despises, and hates — 
 Denies all virtue, knowledge, charity — 
 Empowers only hooded hangmen, debates
 Nobody, certain he is right — he’ll flee
 From love and risk and pain at any cost,
 And will not suffer any suffering
 To…

POETRY

The Orchis Enthusiast

At last, she had it all — a maid to clean 
 And cook, a nanny who could watch the kids,
 And cash enough for her to at last ween
 Herself from any kind of work. Her bids

POETRY

Finding Oneself at Home

A lyric on the radio and I
 Am reconciled to my fate to live
 In Dallas and to find it home. Yes, why
 Not find my happiness, my want to give
 In these, my neighbors. Why should I deny
 These buildings, people, streets, and theaters
 Who are and can…

POETRY

Myth Is History

A querulous old man with followers
 Who ruled as tyrants found the poison cup
 Pressed to his lips to silence all the burrs
 That tripped off of his tongue. He was served up

POETRY

The Flirt

Can he impress with Beowulf
 And C.S. Lewis, fairy tales?
 Her glasses, large, close-matches his — 
 But does that mean there’s balanced scales?

POETRY

The Door

You stand before the door of rotting wood,
 All lichen-mottled gray and green, the stone
 Wall matching. You knock. Do you know the words?
 The door stands silent, then it gives a moan
 That sounds like clippers rotting in their docks,
 Then silence from the door, the…