It felt like a belly flop
crammed into a calcified bounce house

Eighty-five percent of the Earth’s surface is tarp

I never mentioned to the skipper
how my mother died

In Maine his whole life except the year there wasn’t work.

​I knew a man, older, who was afraid to cry.

I was 11 and my buddy, Dennis, and I
kept hounding Coach Phillips for some chew

Even if it is addressed to you, this is a letter for me. If it were truly a letter for you,... more

Depression, like any beast, digests
only what is edible. 

To make your joy indigestible,
follow closely these steps:

Learn... more

My father inhales smoke from a lone Marlboro,
            shadowed against a sun colored like dead autumn leaves.
He gently... more

The year is 2019 and all our conversations are now about water. Even the conversations not about... more

A Queer Translates Rilke

I long to know his self-described “epic head”
with my eyes closed. But... more

Color Study, or Ode to Discomfort

It was never safe for us—
always beneath the eye is... more

i trapped pete wentz
in a pastoral landscape

Every car passing by might house a backseat scout

Were this place to close, or burn, or fall, in an earthquake, down.
Were it to flood or be bulldozed to make way for the gray... more

I dreamed my brother gave his dog to a friend in New York
who could better care for... more

You, Drawing

Urgent and hawkish, 
savage man strokes
skirr from your pen;
determined bold... more

Silver Dollar

i toss humpback salmon from my thumb like silver dollars, listen for the splash of them... more

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Wedding

1.    The bride was beautiful. 

2.    The bride was... more

Power Lines

Spring was coming to its sap-sticky end when
you were telling me something about how... more

swang

at night i sleep next to you, your skin balmy course. like grinded down sweetgum made smooth... more

EMOTION CASINO

welcome to your life 
your face changes as you watch
outside the frame
among the... more

I render a coin

for something 

I forgot

the sky 

scratching itself 

into decency

when I

wake up 

always... more

Rhinoceros 

          I don’t recommend mistaking everything for love but it’s been interesting 
   ... more

take a lemon

the world feels less and less familiar most days
sometimes it is difficult to identify... more