Here’s How It Will Go
The chest cage and diaphragm, with expansive spirit,
cooperate one last time,
the discomfort at the depth of the intake
a reason to pause, with a sense...
Stay Close to the Willows
Is a country way of sayin’
remain near home,
don’t venture far,
keep nearby.
Once you embody shadow
under the pine’s umbrella
and grace the riverbank,
turn around, go no farther.
A...
Farmer’s Market in Pandemic
The Saturday rite is now a drive-by:
we’re all laid back in our masks
awaiting our turn. The line
stretches far down the street;
no one expects to...
Harbinger
On my walk I notice a hint of yellow
on the arched branches of forsythia
that grow over an old rock wall—
the stones handpicked for fit
not...
Love in the Time of COVID
Our little mid-century ranch, with its limestone exterior and big picture window, sits clustered together with other mid-century homes—tri-levels and A-frames—in a neighborhood that...
How I Became Greta and Alan
For an absolute stranger, Bob Coyne calls a lot. Over the past two years or so he has called at least once and sometimes...
Ventilator Moon
A streamlet of breath trickles
into shuddering pink caves.
Adjust the settings: percent oxygen,
breaths per minute, tidal volume.
Perhaps tidal volume charts
the moon’s pull in anxious blood,
a...
Shame and Blessings at the Coin-Op
Just before the virus drifted into the world, a friend I’d recently met texted that she was nervous. Her washing machine had broken at...
Crumbs
I’m prone to guilt, coming as it does in crumbs and great big slices. Or sometimes as the entire pie. I feel it right...
