OPTIONAL POETRY

At the body shop they said they could hammer out the dents, could stretchand scrape, apply clear coat,and no one would knowthere was ever a wreck. On one hand it seemsthat growing hardermakes breaks easier to fix, each new hitan opportunity to practice gutting and replacement. But getting softer, blows are absorbed with no resistance,all giving wholly–still it seems easierto learn one’s ownmechanics than to give an inch,let alone all, even if it meanssome hidden damage, and supplemental costs.

  We walk in our own world. Fog opens before us, fog closes behind usand sometimes we see shadowy figures,sometimes the animist glow of a truck’s headlightsas it spins an empty circle on hard-packed sand. We all leave our mark here, relative to weight, this ground is laced with pulverized shells and rock crab slaughter, but the tide is going out now, now innocuous. A solo seagull tucks into itself to sleep, mistaking poor visibility […]

Early morning tableau— wan sunlight and ecstasy of dog. A thought arises— there might have been a warmer reception back into the world of the living if anyone had just brought Cerberus his bowl.        

One AM and the night and the fog and the motel marquees render the sky in a liver color. I would have said purple but someone’s fighting ugly in a parking lot nearby, with a puce sort of sentimentality. Sound carries here, the ocean beyond the trees coming to rest beneath the balcony. No, it’s restless too. In enough sea haze we’re all an island unto ourselves, the neighbor’s porchlight barely dents this brume. This […]

I. Robed in soft blush the peaches for the wedding are ripe and I will take them when I leave for the seaside perfumedwith tender fleshand a heartof stone. II. Often paintedwith a stemand leaf the tongue by whichwe speak our heartsthese fruitsshared the sunequally somust not bekindreda tree producesunevenlyat best. III. Withclingstonessome cultivarsare made to be difficult and it’s no secret thatwork can be pleasurebut pleasurecannot be worked at. IV. Perseverancein time the skin […]