my regrets pierce the heavens like stars my dreams litter the landscape, sparkling shattered glass in the beating sun. each day the vultures of hope peck my bleached bones clean — at this point, life has failed expectation. yet for the gift of fire I would burn…
Parting Glances
What is a first glance? A way of saying goodbye. and a threshold enters as much as it leaves. contains as much as it rejects. we work at parting glances, splitting the differences of space and air, a carnival of words, exchanged for fleeting glimpses of a stranger and a desired kiss. caressing fingers that…
Late Season Pruning
Trellis of his beauty, she— A God, he created her in the image of— [woman, women: bits and pieces] She is his flower garden. He plants his roses, he cultivates. Ivy climbs across her back, wrapping around her sides in formal array. She sobs for his beauty. Irises upon irises, violet. She…
Exploring wolf references: “Keep the wolves at bay”
The phrase “to keep the wolves at bay” refers to a time when baying wolves were a sign that wolves were still in the distance. The idea is that when wolves are still in pursuit, they are not yet ready to attack. Sometimes shorted to keeping something “at bay,” this also refers to hunting dogs that…
Glimpses of Angels
Her dress is snagged by briars her hair falling down She wears a ring of dandelions like a halo She says I see the bird song and hear time slipping by In town they say she’s crazy I say I tend to agree She frolics naked by the meadow chasing butterflies she dances…
TV
the portal flickers blue light across the room. though you know better, you pass through, unconscious
delicate desperation
Spring pushes through the ground, away the images frozen in my mind. I try not to pin too much on such a delicate season, yet, Spring, you must save me.
Exploring wolf references: “Lone Wolf”
Lone wolf is an American expression that began in the early 1900s. A “lone wolf” is a person who acts alone or enjoys his or her own company—and not being part of the pack. The phrase persists in popular culture today. Lone Wolf is the title of a 1988 horror film, and Lone Wolf McQuade…
Dying Softly
Buying bicycles, my boyfriend and I stood in line. From the next isle over, a white-trash, rotted teeth, camouflage- fishing-hat wearing man says, “Hey, dude, what time’s the game tonight?” Momentarily unaware of his intention, I mutter “I have no idea.” With his laughter, realization and anger at myself for not saying: …
Setting the tone in writing: Weather-related phenomenon
Weather is easy to overlook in fiction unless it pertains purposefully to plot. The elements, however, can convey mood or setting. I think of when I was a child, waiting for the bus in the country. I loved the fog! It was eerie the way it changed my relationship with the world around me. I…
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