Dawn fades in when I least expect it. Where are the books that held me once, my brave invective, the pictures forming in the darkroom? Memory leaves with her usual lack of meaning, a darkness with … Continued
We thank you for your interest, an urge from within, a special something. A sea of metaphysical books before they amounted to clairvoyance. An ether inside a higher ether. Two sensitivities to one whole and a dimension of your dormant … Continued
The candidate has a spoilage in his head, an icky bit, a creep that chews for him alone when stuffing up the local grub. At every stop, he shovels in the pies and dogs, the beer, … Continued
At the end he was tilted that he might remain in sleep. If he woke he would know just how bad things were, would cough and dislodge the intubation tube. A certainty. Fluids in, fluids out. Tilted his head below … Continued
“Where were you last night?” It’s not that she cared. His absence hadn’t kept her up. She’d fallen asleep as usual to the Home Shopping Network, last chance at that dragonfly brooch for only $19.95. She’d woken with the credit … Continued
Heaven must be dying on time at the end of a long life, family at one’s hands, goodbyes hovering like hummingbirds, which, if one is absolutely still, sometimes land on a finger and sip honey as if from nowhere. One … Continued
The way she wears her sweater is so Sunday. If her parents were here she’d say why don’t you go watch Dancing With the Stars. It is every generation’s job to feel deprived. If she had kids she’s scared of … Continued
Translated from Slovenian by Brian Henry GRUBER CANAL, LJUBLJANA Here I am on my old turf, my hand again in yours, going down the stairs, as long as summer, which is pale from many couples and families on … Continued
(Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2012) As a writer, I create yearlong, but because of my position as an instructor of English composition, summer remains my season of “play,” three months when I treat writing like a full-time job. The … Continued
Do you smell that? How could it be, here, Where everything looks perfect? That sour tang Of a pile of one hundred degree garbage Behind the storefront you’re standing in Front of. Sniff the air. Look around. But hurry, You … Continued
Let me tell you about my dream, my father said. Two black men walk into a bar and the rosy-faced, white barkeep says we don’t serve niggers in here and one of the men points to the other and says … Continued