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

Submission History

Date	Publication	Status
June 13, 2025	New Verse Review	Rejected
June 22, 2025	Backbone Mountain Review (II, IV, V)	Rejected
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	Rejected
August 16, 2025	American Poetry Review	Rejected
August 16, 2025	Missouri Review	Rejected
August 20, 2025	Four Tulips (II)	Rejected
August 22, 2025	Willows Wept Review (II)	Rejected
August 25, 2025	32 Poems (V)	Rejected
August 26, 2025	Gavialidae (V)	Rejected
October 7, 2025	Salvation South (V)	Rejected
November 24, 2025	Artists from Maryland (V)	Rejected
January 24th, 2026	Macrame Literary Journal (V)	Pending
February 16th, 2026	Ultramarine Literary Review (II)	Pending
February 16th, 2026	Hibiscus Magazine (II)	Pending