“I Wrote My Phone Number on a Telephone Pole,” “Raining Since Yesterday Afternoon and it’s Still Raining,” “Father,” and Other Poems
translated by Xi Nan I often say that poetry is a kind of reality. This reality crosses the line between dream and daily life. Some of the following…
Confession of the Poetical Firefly to the Muse-Butterfly of Poesy
You must excuse me. You dear dreamer! I have overly felt my dreamery about Golden Fleece. I built my small paradise without any other ontological…
“Dead End,” “The Penguin Book of Human Verve,” “Passing,” and Other Poems
Dead End I visited my old college roommate, Bryce. Bryce McHatchen. Whatta nice guy! It’s been forty years. Forty. “Count them,” he said, as a…
“Whelking It,” “Lockdown Artist,” and “Snowglobe”
Whelking It We crawled inside the pretty pink conch shell we were invited to follow one another the loudest voice leading us down the whirling tunnel…
“As Bad as it Feels Anymore,” “Endless Scars from Life,” and “Flowers That Never Bloom”
as bad as it feels anymore i come from a family where if you can fart and sneeze at the same time you are considered talented sadly, those awkward…
“1959,” “Replacing Mascots,” “Catgut Ribbons,” and Other Poems
1959 When I was four Robert Lowell declared it the skunk hour. Those waddling stinkers, of which I was one, only less hairy, surely, but just as…
“Collect,” “Morty Horse,” and “No Basura”
Collect I wanted a bloody fight. Billy unrecognizable. To know I could be the bullet. The severed line that carried his southern, inbred spits, and…
Chemistry
My feet always smell. That’s the problem. My wife says I am running on fumes. She says she is being asphyxiated. She says she is choking. I say……
“In Exile,” “Play Solitaire,” and “The Side of the Road”
In Exile Here, in exile. A place less wanted But there is a kind of wan peace--- A sameness of days and nights That become the next And the next As I…
“Westylvania’s Ghost Town” and “A Summer Drive”
Westylvania's Ghost Town June Green trees on rolling Appalachian hills Double wides. Little red brick farmhouses. Amish built barns 30 years in…
