Remembrance#
Photographs#
A photograph of strangers’ joy
atop the garbage, torn in half.
though lost, these ghosts in gloss deploy
a photograph.
Imagine tears that joyous laugh,
the Autumn gowns and corduroy,
a wedding banquet monograph.
With age then mixed precise alloy
from parts romance and epitaph,
til future hands at last destroy
a photograph.
Graffitied Walls#
Graffitied walls of yearly bloom
with vagrant spray of aerosols;
The vapors fume, condense and groom
graffitied walls.
The artists follow protocols:
the lover’s name, the prophet’s doom,
the epigraphs of homeless sprawls.
The rarer buds of sweet perfume
are hidden deep in alley malls
where flowered faces sprung consume
graffitied walls.
Fragrant Air#
The fragrant air which wavers here
in heat like harps of golden hair
that sweep their shoulder length and clear
the fragrant air.
The lily sermons whisper where
I heard your blood through skin by ear,
a moment made in silent stare.
The scent remains, you disappear,
as wind now speaks your name in prayer,
in razor gusts that whip and shear
the fragrant air.
Fading Ink#
In fading ink, her fine details
like curly cues and shades of pink,
the shadowed lines that leak through trails
in fading ink.
A paper mind she wrote to think,
so words replace what breath inhales
and find my thoughts with hers in sync.
In letters light as chapel veils,
I watch our dance as bodies sink,
a final gasp of life exhales
in fading ink.
Vinyl Seats#
The vinyl seats of classic cars,
the plastic smell their thread secretes
as cherry burn on cover mars
the vinyl seats.
When Father stooped to sew the sheets,
his needles stacked in columned jars,
his fingers folded rows of pleats.
My fingers trace the wells of scars
as driving down the city streets
my careless dropped reminder chars
the vinyl seats.
June 2025
Date |
Publication |
Status |
|---|---|---|
June 13, 2025 |
New Verse Review |
Rejected |
June 22, 2025 |
Backbone Mountain Review (II, IV, VI) |
Pending |
June 25, 2025 |
St. Katherine Review |
Rejected |
July 01, 2025 |
New Feathers Anthology |
Rejected |
July 02, 2025 |
January House Literary Journal |
Rejected |
July 02, 2025 |
Mangrove Review |
Rejected |
July 03, 2025 |
Cypress Review |
Rejected |
August 15, 2025 |
Smartish Pace |
Pending |
August 16, 2025 |
American Poetry Review |
Pending |
August 16, 2025 |
Missouri Review |
Pending |
August 20, 2025 |
Four Tulips (II) |
Pending |
August 22, 2025 |
Willows Wept Review (II) |
Pending |
August 25, 2025 |
32 Poems (V) |
Pending |
August 26, 2025 |
Gavialidae (V) |
Pending |