And Me Naked for you, beneath some moon somewhere, which sounds like an ending, unless you begin with it. White as a page, as a unicorn’s horn, some skin—all of mine. So stare down—star-down is how I want to lay with you. Come further up. Go further in. Night is falling with us. Night, the … Read more
No animals died Our research on toads and carabids considered predator and prey. Japanese toads and bombardier beetles were ‘introduced’, let’s say. The relationships were explosive – but complied with current laws. We intend to show you footage. Please, hold your applause. Our methodology? Each beetle placed in tongue’s reach of a toad. Each swallowed. … Read more
Vincent in Hiroshima “A work of art is a corner of creation viewed through a temperament.”—Emile Zola I. Daubigny’s Garden, a late masterpiece of Vincent van Gogh, painted in July 1890 (the same month he died), now hangs in Hiroshima. Talk about ghosts of the blast. Beauty clings to Horror, and still clings, even when … Read more
Oblique Landscape JP Jacobsen, I read your poem of a boundless heath with mossy stones where you were born and where you returned with the tungsind poet that ‘died the death, the difficult death.’ Shadowgraph naturalist, translator of Darwin enduring sufferer of tuberculosis who loved six enraged steadfast women for the poet to tune the mood to … Read more
Lovely Dead If I were to let you go who would I show this garden to; who would be there to tell me ‘no’ it’s not enough to say it’s blue in June, when echiums greet the bees (just as later they give finches seeds) and turns yellow in summer sun, burns to red with … Read more
_ Where beckons the quiver…? Are there no spirits moving in the air _ ruling the region between earth and sky ? And do you shine from the sky _ goddess in decay, _ as respite from the spit of day ? For this world could not hold you ? Whose arm twitches … Read more
A Chapter in the WarAppian, 95-165 CEUnder orders from Octavian, the hardened captains – Pansa, Carfulenus – patrolled the narrow pass they had determined to defend, with the Martian legion and half a dozen cohorts in their train.Surrounded all about by mulling marshland, heavy bogs, eight miles south-east of Mutina, their suspicions as they carried … Read more
Rental Motes swirled in windows like stars in The Starry Night. Water stains framed mirrors in bursts of gray-gold. The landlord’s lips were thin, her lipstick coral. She braved the tropical storm to unlock closets: her Waterford crystal. Branches needed pruning but all I seemed to do was dream of Heathcliff. I never scrubbed or … Read more
From hospital suite One no matter how the oak ward is word-less the light buzz of a garden through terminal windows without logos _ rationalise brother at rest _ through doors _ down corridors _ the sheen of _ sterile floors feet walking away Two angel _ blue light so _ far angel … Read more
If I Could Only I dream of roses blooming in the sky, of boys with guns, of body parts slung over broken toys in some unholy rite. And through mind-searing noise, I hear the wail of mothers keening for their young. I dream of hell. But when dawn breaks, I wake to find that, silently, … Read more