Do Not Resuscitate

Nurses and doctors in hospices reported the terminally ill just suddenly feeling better. Emergency rooms had no more casualties. Heart attacks, car accidents, anything. They still happened, but everyone survived.

Jaguar, but Pronounce the “U”

How could we be so different than a velociraptor
if not even worse
eating our savior
stop
don’t think of it that way.

Avocados

The blade presses against the first, and the insides give way before the leather skin does. Same with the other two. My throat constricts. Shaking, I drop the knife onto the counter, pick up the avocados and press them between my hands, a non-bright green mush oozing from between my fingers, shedding their suits and seeds in my fists. You were in remission.

French Impressionists

I’ll plunge into the Loing or the Seine itself,
into ultramarine and cobalt blue
I’ll wade into the waters of Giverny,
lie amongst the water lilies
madder red and cadmium yellow against emerald,
violet waters

Buttons I Keep

I still have
glimpses of her -
mouth wiped
on a soiled sleeve

The People Who Live Here

Beauty pulls him into a brand new place, one that does not require memory. This might be at the heart of beauty: it doesn’t require you to remember; it doesn’t even require you to be you.

Two Poems

When I remember my mother happy
I go back to her emerging from brambles,
a loaded bucket keeping her from dancing.