“Take the Plunge,” “Cultural Appropriation,” “Honor Among Thieves,” and Other Poems
Take the Plunge After killing African natives, the colonial armies returned to Europe to murder its own civilians. Trench warfare and concentration…
“Fat Pigeons Over Tokyo Bay,” “Getting Emotional,” “Life Without Death,” and “National Tragedy, A Poem for All Ages”
Fat Pigeons Over Tokyo Bay Pigeons fling themselves from the balconies like suicides. Fat, filthy rats, fly from rooftops, as crows attack the…
The Confiscation Wars
I: The Man with No Tattoos was dragged through the streets by a mob of women, whose distinguishing features are black ink markings sketched across…
“Neo-Tokyo,” “Who Invented Phil Silvers?,” “Free Robert De Niro,” and Other Poems
Neo-Tokyo Life’s glories? Countless… Lee Marvin’s voice The way Judy Davis says “bullshit” Glengarry Glen Ross Anything beats getting stoned for…
“True Believers,” “No Man’s Lands,” “Viewed from Above,” and Other Poems
True Believers “This is going to suck!” Are you old enough to remember when this expression was unused, unsaid, unknown? Claude Rains was still…
Sex is Epic
It is difficult to know something and to act as if you did not know it. --- Ludwig Wittgenstein I wouldn’t be free for long, so my escape would…
Left Out of Encyclopedia Britannica
I had students on the Persian Gulf named Muhammad, Saleh, and Fatso. Today. I had students in Houston Gardens named Keisha, Sabrina, and Dante. I had…
Ghostwritten
I am reading an anthology of short stories, 700 pages worth. I haven’t finished a single one. They are all the same, about rich girls sitting in…
Arts Appreciation
Of course, I live alone. It was not easy coming back to an empty apartment. I mean, I wasn’t totally on my own, not completely as an old maid; I was…
“Bringing Home the Bacon,” “Chopin and Savagery,” “Gabriel Garcia Márquez Knows His Stuff,” and Other Poems
Bringing Home the Bacon ---for Francis Bacon and David Sylvester (1966) The artist’s burden begins with us, the little people who’ve left their…
