Thursday, March 31, 2016

Facing the Prompter


Friend, awake you pretend 
You’re sharp, alive and kicking, acting 
Up, one step ahead of the world again— 
Asleep, five will get you ten you see 
Someone tripping over his lines, 
A ham actor falling perfectly on end, 
Flat on his face again and again. 


Thursday, March 24, 2016

After Attending the Funeral of a Centenarian, Phaedra (Approaching Four) Muses on the Subject of Mortality


Papa, 

I know Granny Sophy died 
Yesterday because I saw her dead, 

But I’m going to read as much poetry 
As I can and then try 

To write it so I don’t. 


Monday, March 21, 2016

Empathy of a Third Kind


Each village with a madman—might it be 
The work of the wind blowing in 

One ear and out 
The other 

Inconsolable as can be? 





Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Greek Occupation


Before the war, my father worked 
His small, patchy wheat fields
Wearing rough sandals 
Made of used tire treads, 
But he still put bread on our table. 

When the German boot came, 
He walked barefoot with no
Bread to be found anywhere— 
Another story altogether, 
But the kernel remains the same. 






Sunday, March 13, 2016

Alarums


cocky insouciant plump 
roosters ring in 
false dawn like clockwork 


lean crepuscular jackals 
in thicket clear throats 
cry out in unison


same bloody refrain 
drones through vale 
of death daily


again and again 


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