Propped up against the headboard She calmly smoothes the cotton sheet With knarled arthritic fingers, Examining the faded flower pattern. In lucid moments she tells me that I look so much like my father. “He was the handsomest man I ever met.” And then there are those days she claims Someone has stolen her purse,…

Mom kept many gallons of water under the staircase. I watched her eyedropper eight careful drops of bleach into each bottle, wondering how the water would taste. She said if I had time, I should go across campus to Bilger Hall. There was a fallout shelter in the basement. If there was no time, she…

Creating light, love’s knowing fashion makes Some man, some woman reach in time in place To touch, their wordless press to hold each one. To find in other’s capture, purify, Make sensual semblance mystic as of old Before they pass beyond the mythic plot Then ever gone. To language moved among A throng of hopes,…

I turned down College Walk. The air sat thick, gooey. Termites swarmed the streetlights. The canal smelled like dead fish, was lined with plastic bottles. Stopping, I leaned over the wall, searching for floating bodies. My shadow shimmered. “Hey, handsome.” She came beside me. I could see us mirrored in the murky water. Turning, I…

My father, proudest in his life for serving his country in World War Two, lived his last three years in a nursing home, confined to bed, urinating and having bowel movements in a diaper. When he could focus and talk to me, I asked if he still wanted to be buried in the National Cemetary…

Most don’t want to hear Not at all Some kind of religious music Playing everyday She’s slouched there Her old cassette Smoking cigarettes Taking their donations Nicotine stained fingers Sagged on her chair That Jesus music so-so loud Most listening not much Who come to her Having found God Slowly crawl to her trailer Pass…

I did not want to fall in love with you At most pursued a quick short-lived affair Wronged have I been before and sure anew I’d rather sidestep agonizing care But somehow destined I for you did fall It’s time unfeelingly to toy with me Treat me compassionlessly after all Because it’s happened so consistently…

Disdainful looks from you are welcome guests Like sunshined rays once storminess has passed So it were criminal to praise you less In deigning upon me your glares to cast The key to opening a heart so locked Remains an unsolved mystery to me But I’ll awaiting of your timing find If you’ll resolve imprisoned…

I wonder often why Shakespeare did write Those hundred fifty-four love sonnets dear For whom he meant each one inspired delight For whom each one was meant remains unclear Enamoring all those poems instinctive dreamed Of golden youth’s renown he would ensure Of women dark, fair, pretty, or less deemed Of age’s contrasts and swift…

Along some way I’ll find someone, my Love Together may we by our fates attach Together may we both forever prove We’ll last through time this time a timeless match Whatever hardships we untimely meet Let’s never let our union fall apart Let’s never on each other ever cheat Let never hearts attach to other…