Beneath his eyes the skin is blue because he is tired of scissors and the paper he carries home, tired of the sound of the classroom animals he hears, waiting for sleep, tired of the morning bowl of cereal and … Continued

That’s how it was then, a knife through cartilage, a body broken. Animal and animal as mineral ash. A window smashed. The collective howl as a general alarm followed by quiet. Boot-black night, halogen hum. Tape snaking through a stealth … Continued

the birds that night were saying no more than they had to, they were saying no more, they were saying no more than they had, so the conductor of the night stopped it, saying, “first bird, mark the slurs and … Continued

Would it help to know I’m a little in love with your husband? Or that I’m in love with my own, and I’m not going anywhere? Or that the version of me you hear in this poem is a version … Continued

  Mermaid You show reluctance behind the fire hydrant spray. Haze hangs higher than sun over water. You were there, impeccable. Hygiene washes up on shore. To make a myth out of what happened. A table tipped over separates the … Continued

1. A brand in a can and, later, conveniently in sticks, but also a word—crisco— applying to any shortening, any oil teased from its natural state to stay solid at room temp. Used with a peppering of coffee grounds to … Continued

The discovery of the Malay flying dragon depends in part on our desire for its existence, as its first image in Farquhar’s book depends on the Chinese artist anonymously commissioned to paint it in Farquhar’s name. Both acts being opportunities … Continued

Translated from Spanish by Yvette Siegert For Raúl Gustavo Aguirre This mania of knowing myself an angel, without age, without a death in which to live me, without piety for my name or for my bones that sob as they … Continued

white field. And the dog dashing past me into the blank, toward the nothing. Or: not running anymore but this idea of him, still in his gold fur, being what I loved him for first, so that now on the … Continued

We wanted to believe in something powerful and true, like love. We wanted to believe in something powerful and true. We wanted to believe in love. And so we raised our heads above. And so we were a me and … Continued

you try again; ball up your fist, the hand with a tiny dove carved from marble cupped in your carved-marble palm; its curve of as-yet-unused girl-hand frozen in the want to be offering whatever it has; you’re too old, throw … Continued

While touring Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds Exhibit in Denver, CO Walking the exhibit where they’ve skinned the dead and positioned them like ice skaters, lovers, archers, I should be contemplating mortality and matter, the slowly failing connections of bone, ligament, … Continued

After Herbert In paradise the work week is fixed at thirty hours and manual labor is only pleasantly more tiring than typing so that a morning chopping wood is barely enough to make the ham sandwich and the cold bottle … Continued

I’ll spend hours eating all your kisses A feast for me from dusk til dawn Eat them all, sour tart, Some with sugar, some with blood. I’ll beat the devil’s maw for swallowing And fill a prophet’s head with food … Continued

Are you lonely there? Yes, I want you here. * Welcome, day of hearts on paper, night of lights that punctuate and propagate the dark. Honor the … Continued

after gilles deleuze City is a way of forgetting the darkness that surrounds us so fly me east toward the gathering of names. It’s a dance of mechanics, just a couple of lights: not only, but it’s me and lonely. … Continued

The problem of water is that it’s odorless Water is not sensed until it is too late You think you are alright and then water It has been said water moves faster than horses but it has not been said … Continued