Poetry
Scott, Supervisor of the Dispossessed
for Scott Wiener, San Francisco Supervisor, District 8 I know this cityits namesake friarthe mystic who bled, Scott 800 years beforeall this cement& scaffolding we know the birdsin his namethe visions what to dowith this historythis minority who nowdoes the city claimas progeny the longhaired boysmelling of patchoulihis hemp spread out Nick the Wiccanin an open relationshiphis desiderata of dick pregnant Alexandraher architect …
When My Phone Trembles (for D’Angelo)
When my phoneTremblesAfter midnightI never think of good news: Someone’s birthday An overseas friend Forgetting The Time difference I never smell Apples baking Or …
The Beginning of the End of Hummingbird Cake
In the pineapple is the fiber we’ve been looking for, the sweet yellow threadiness we’d never confuse for stitches, for wound. In the banana is the quickening rot, the rot being the softest, sweetest stage of the fruit. *This is not Hawaii. There are no resorts here. We swim in no ocean but in One …
Street Dog Dreams: Lodhi Gardens
all nightshe dreams of gold jewelryburying her aliveand fine fine silksthat smell so sharply of fearher teeth ache then when the humans comeclattering their feetin the yellow squares of lighttheir breath heavy with desireand sweet smoke she wants to tell themwho she wasbut the man whistles so loudlyshe forgets everythingand barks at the moon
Dry Spell
La chicharra, Spanish for ‘‘cicada,’’trills with not one but two rolling r’slike the charlado who won’t stoptalking because he has too much to say. Fallen dead on the sidewalk, though,his song is hushed, a shell emptied out,carapace of silence, once a chorus,lacelike wings enfolded, mute supplicant. Shell fired in terra cotta, ashen undercarriage,pale green wing …
Creation Myth
Overgrown weeds had hidden the car untilthe brushfire revealed it. Once the doors cooled,neighborhood kids came to investigate. One rubbeda circle clear with his sleeve and clicked his glassesagainst the window. A beautiful woman layagainst the seat—black dress, sparklesaround her neck, confetti in her hair.Next to her sat a man in a tuxedo,a noisemaker stuck …
Time in the Sierras Subbéticas
All week a caretaker started hacking the hillside with his weed whacker at dawn. Its fierce buzz drove us, bleary with olive pollen and summer heat, out to walk through groves and whitewashed village homes as the sun rose. On the foothills road we stepped aside for a baker’s pickup, its load of fresh loaves …
stop-&-frisk
-&-what- does-it-take- to-cooperate- -shrink- into-an-apology -turn-over- your-body -turn-out- your-pockets -be-a-right-answer- to-questions -they-choose -be- chosen
Husband Fair
for Matthew, darling How good to lay with my husband in our stone flat with not enough windows and many doors. We need another chair. The smaller table wobbles too much for books and won’t hold both of our plates. But we eat, he and I, and the fare is good. I do the …