Coming Clean At Last

When you feel up to it, 

Feel free to write in 

The persona of one unwilling

To exist outside himself— 

If you do, be a sport 

And rub out every ineffable 

Trace of his presence—painful 

As it is, it’ll spare the both of us 

A world of disconsolate grief. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Double Crossed Subject/Object Matter

the

in- 

no- 

cent 

gilt- 

 

edged 

mir- 

ror 

frames 

no- 

 

thing 

specious 

in 

it- 

self 

 

save 

the 

precious 

image 

you 

 

project 

to 

cover 

your 

abject 

 

about- 

face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From A Poet's Handbook: A Poem Should Be (23)

To all those unwilling 

To face it, revolutionary 

 

And easy to digest— 

Even those hard ones 

 

Whose subject matter’s 

Revolting—say how 

 

Sickening the image 

Of a starving child is. 

 

 

 

 

Domicile Of The Empathic Heart

 

In the dead of winter 

Huddled over, kindling 

 

A lone dying hearth. 

 

 

 

Sappho's

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

 

ex 

plosive 

               frag 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

 

meant 

to 

be

 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

 

loving[ly] ex 

 

[pli-] 

[ca-] 

[ted] 

 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

 

[from?] 

 

[dia] [pha] [nous]

 

pleats

in 

her 

enamored

 

[memory?] [now]

 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

 

by ravenous moths torn 

 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

[ ] [ ] [ ] 

[ ] [ ] [ ]

 

to shreds.