His swing was long
before he teed off

The ball spun
into an unplayable lie
prior to the drive

The game lost
because of the player’s poorly executed pre-shot routine   [Read more…]

Stonewall Jackson’s
amputated arm
clawed itself
out of the grave it was given
after succumbing
to friendly fire

When the rebel General
fell ill from pneumonia,
he summoned the limb
that never refused an order
—be it to shoot
bootless deserters
or exchange money
for slaves—   [Read more…]

The children
you remember raising
don’t exist
outside the imaginary cages
fake news projects onto TV screens

The sun you believe
rises in the East
Isn’t a fact
it’s science fiction

The voice your ears think they hear
was burned before it could be spoken
by the witch hunt
against freedom of thought   [Read more…]

The serpent in the rose garden
has monochromatic eyes
senses the heat of prey

A cold blooded predator
coiled up
in Jim Crow’s shallow grave

He poisons
the memory of lives sacrificed
for slavery’s sins

Takes a knee
for Robert E. Lee   [Read more…]

Dinosaurs in the desert
keep windmills turning

Stop

Drivers
from reaching washes

Flooded
by humanity’s feeding frenzy of fire
  [Read more…]

Diagnostic tests
failed to detect the foreign body
lodged in the abdominal cavity

The wound site
was irrigated

Closed

Dressings applied   [Read more…]

The last seat
on the final train

Sitting behind
a window

The world moving frame by frame
home
to me   [Read more…]

The plane
flies West
on automatic pilot

It’s airspeed
suspends
the bleeding bubble of sun
just beneath
our artificial horizon   [Read more…]

One eye drop of blood
and pupils dilate

Looking at light becomes painful

We accept blindfolds
from executioners

Paint targets on sun   [Read more…]

The ship has run aground
in coiled ropes of clouds
and unanchored waves

No sign of crew or cargo
just tears of rust
for a salty sea
  [Read more…]

The flag has been
dropped
stars trampled into bloody stripes
by a bull kicking up dust

Suture the tattered banner
with gold thread
before the colors can be burned

The fabric will be stronger
because of its scars   [Read more…]

Today
there was no teargas in Syntagma Square
just tears swallowed by the austere protest
of laid off workers
forced to lie all night
outside sleeping churches

No loud speakers
just nails hammered into stone
by the old guards’ shoes
guarding the cenotaph beneath parliament   [Read more…]