poems

Summer 2026

Aren't we all dying To dance in the house In a lightning storm? Gosh when The wind started I walked into the yard Like a TV zombie But smiling Into the darkness. And the howl Of the sky Perforated my sadness Finally I saw myself In something, In this case It was the sky. Back inside There was shelter But the meager, tenuous kind: Walls, ceilings, windows. Us, the women, eager Not just to be in this world, But part of it, too, Jumped danced and sung, Miming the sky I'm sure we looked so free But our eyes were fixed In the wavy window Watching our bodies move

Summer 2026

When I run out Of reasons To explain This feeling I decide it must be you; How could it not be? I remember Your skyscraper fingers Across my hummingbird skin But I am alone now, and beating My wings again, and again, and again

Summer 2026

Trying to smell the corpse flower From outside the tin toy cage They call it a conservatory Inside they keep rare things Like slices of the tropics And footprints of your visit

Summer 2026

I am tired in this love Under constant sundown I am tired this in love My life flickering as I grasp your finger I am holding your finger, my life is flickering, What is happening? In memories I am walking you through August endlessly In present I am holding your finger, it is not endless In practice my legs keep moving, drawing the ending Through the air, now expanding between us. But I don't worry About all this space: it is not endless

Summer 2026

Two dogs bark Out my window You can hear Which one is winning My brain twirls the pen My body roars in breath You can hear Which one is winning

Spring 2026

If today I am afraid Of life ending suddenly Then it must be feeling fragile I must be taking inventory Of who and what I will miss Of who and what are already lost

Spring 2026

A thousand angels dance At the point between my eyes When it's time for me to breathe They file out in sigh In the ink of my tall pen A thousand angles fly When I find the words to write They file onto starchy white Where do those angels go? How are those angels born? When it's time For me to know I'm sure my wings will start to grow

Spring 2026

When Anne Carson Lost her lover She dreamt of nudes Walking into the wind, Enclosed by thorns I dreamt of a woman In an ocean of endless expanse And unknown danger Who set off with five children And returned to shore with none And when I awoke Body fumbling in a warm web of flannel The image that remained wasn't quite The water lapping at her shoulders Or the shark fin waves, extending to eternity It was her face, returning to the towel Asking for her children. It's the look of a woman understanding She has lost everything And must keep on living

Winter 2024

Budding cherry blossoms I almost didn't see In my rush to catch the bus Down Roosevelt street I dreamt you drove me drunk To return a used CD it never did make sense When you tried to return me Tears running down my face Dry eyes in morning light Thank god I saw those flowers And you kept the receipt

Spring 2026

All I have left of you In the dull edge of dawn is this small sea glass bruise It lingers until our gentle, ragged union settles into my system. Like new cells generating while The Owner rests and weeps Run to that little green glow in the soft of my leg where nobody goes

Spring 2026

I was warm Feeling your gaze rest on me I, speaking forward had sweetened. Dipped my finger in the honey my leg falling, your skin catching. Down the hall I knew the white bird of paradise Scrunched up a new leaf. Life shot up in silence But your red wine lips too familiar; too foreign; “I'm so sorry that happened to you” No, I risk being known. Look away, Wake the resting limb, Carry it once again, alone, Shooting down all that new life

Spring 2026

Home by the new moon I've worked, ten hours and now I want to be in life Not to watch it. The moon in my binoculars Clearly now, the sun is stealing more, more. Edges flicker I flicker too, now in bed and measuring from the base of my nail to where the ridge stops. Trying to trace back to the moment when that fingernail gave up Was it in the grocery aisle when your surgeon called? You were never static Never mistaken for it. Luck waged war on your body More, more. Back then I was in life in some sense But really, I was watching Myself. Life was so cruel and I don't know why. Still I wake and ask more, more.

Winter 2026

When I run my hair's a pendulum When we kiss my mouth's a sky Only sometimes do I know The way I move is right I knew he'd think it's stupid The way I turn around But when I did I saw his face, His eyes glued to the ground After the breathless comes the rhythm After the rhythm comes the hymn So how much begging would it take To lose my breath again?

Fall 2025

I woke up in my hoodie My morning eyes still full of sleep Cause my bones know that it's autumn Even if no one can see The trees don't that change much here Ever bloom and ever green California's rich forever And I'm a beggar for brown leaves Should I really be so far From everyone who makes my home I think my bones can feel the miles Of bloated states, telephone wires Think of your voice running toward me In twisted copper tubes When it lands into my bedroom What am I missing of you?

Winter 2025

When the flowers bud Your body will pass through The hands of magic I will be there Like the static Of my skin Up against yours

Summer 2025

I don't want to be covered In this restaurant I want to be naked And understood by you

Summer 2025

I remember how it felt Coming home to your face All the quiet love Every tiny thing in its place How I could never recognize Your height or your clothes Even though I'd seen you stand More times than I could know It was always strange And a little cruel too How I could never seem To see the all of you

Summer 2023

Even up on the mountain So much sea was in the air that We were practically swimming Through the ancient streets Despite the blazing sun My hair hadn't dried in days And salt just kept pouring Out of my skin I sat down at the table grimy as hell Nervously evaluating my reflection in the dessert spoon Then you said "You look like my daughter, Nora" Down with the spoon, the worry: I looked like a mother's daughter And there is no greater beauty In the whole world

Every time I go out I'm searching for things to show you A tree with roots in mid air Or a barren branch clutching A single juicy berry You could never touch me again But your failure to notice the tree in suspension Or ripe miracle berry Would hollow me whole

Spring 2025

I'm grieving for the blood you've lost the blood I'll lose again When I hold my body I ask it "do you still feel scared?" And I'm picking at my skin Like a melody's below The surface or the bruises If I just reach in I'll know I feel better then much worse then it all repeats again So nestle in the side of the bed you used to rest I hate how I've adjusted How your suffering's just something Pacing in perpetuity in the center of my mind

Winter 2025

I love how you look in the moonlight I love how you look

We were a window of understanding Slotting in like the last four digits Of my grandparents landline Into my bicycle lock in August You were the only person Who understood me in full Until one day I realized the me you understood Wasn't me at all

so long ago

There is a certain knowing I possess Between brain and body, Time and bleeding. I always know Exactly when It will recommence. They still don't know How the trees listen For their call to mast, But I know how it begins: With this same knowing I possess.

Watching you billow in the sun, Swaying in the artificial wind, I am overcome with sadness. Sadness for your lost world Your concrete ceiling, And worse, that this may be all you know. But if that were true, it wouldn't be so bad. It's I who knows the woods, the cabin of a plane, And it's I who knows nothing. Still I want to jump out this window Slide down the wing And bring you with me

The jasmine sighs In the July sky At the station The clock ticks by second Sometimes timing matters that much Now wood stacks out the train Millions of tiger eyes I'm tired, counting down Until I see you again