Poetry

 

On Writing J’Accuse…! (Poem versus Silence)

Forbidden any right to write or speak to countermand
Stubborn, deliberate curses—the catcalls and Calumny,
I recalled Benda; I thought of Céline (or Louis-Ferdinand
Destouches)—polemical, cynical, his bravura ellipses

Turning every passage … Read the whole text

The Heist

Transportation’s tough,
if you want to be transported:

the blockbuster museum’s hush
is uniform, like sand. 

Adjust the audio tour,
and behind the curtain

of information hiss
streams of static—

what’s art but marked
exits, the urge to … Read the whole text

 

Canadian Raising

My father’s father came
with songs in seven tongues
and no-one to sing them to.

His Polish elbowed German, Dutch
and Yiddish to hear a flat vernacular
push liver pills on sidewalks,

while his children learned his … Read the whole text

 

By the Don River

The Don glistens
faintly at night

besides an illuminated city

the unused
train tracks we are walking
in a fantasy

grow
stretch
expand
swell

like the invisible spirits
buried
in the darkness

until
they explode… Read the whole text

Communion

Darkness weighs
about seventeen kilograms per unit.
It tastes like salt and iron.
I have held it and tasted it.
Believe me.

The feel of darkness varies.
Some days it has the consistency
of cold molasses,
other days the … Read the whole text

 

Words in Flight

These words are roving
birds, returning
After a spell of wintering
In distant climes
Turning, banking, 
Eyes trained
On the last home stretch
Wings weighted with desire
For a tree, familiar 
Feet poised to perch 
On … Read the whole text

My father loves in a practical way

My father loves the way only an ex-soldier can.
He loves with things handy and familiar.
Like steel or fist.

My father is practical.
The way his belts love my behind.
The way … Read the whole text