He came into a world of flood, Indiana mud the color of an old man’s toe nails. On the day of the dead he sent for us and with a few complicated and rounded strokes in the air, made his will. Divided the loot of a lifetime as we looked on – an acre of … Continue reading →

I used to think God couldn’t see through blankets. I hid under my covers much like the foolish child might hide from the bogey man or a murderer. The folds of the fabric protecting me from His omnipotent eye. I used to think a black widow was a type of witch. The type that waited … Continue reading →

Why did the old masters portray the devil as ugly? He’s really quite handsome. And why has he been assigned so many odd names like Lucifer, Satan, and Beelzebub when he has an ordinary name like Richard? Continue reading →

I burnt my face today, thinking of you I was drunk, wiping snot from my lip And forgot I had a cigarette in hand. My mouth tasted of pistachios And you were my prize Our last goodbye was Bumming two smokes And me drunk over a wooden railing; Hide your shame! you said. To that … Continue reading →

large buzzard sways on pole December winds howl his head turned stares at me white neck ruff flutters delicately small animals run and die, he gives no notice I tap my foot change radio station glance again eye-to-eye he stares sunlight breaks a ray pointing east he knows where I hid the body Continue reading →

She lives with The pain, the only Husband to stay, Attached to the hip So she walks With a Karloff drag But she can make For the break room When its her turn, That ten minutes Away from her press The little relief She can keep, She refuses to seek Help, doctors scare Her for … Continue reading →

If some glad scientist strapped, belted, and buckled me to a gurney, then told me to think only of you while he peered into my skull using positron emission tomography, my otherwise lackluster brain would scintillate with multi-colored sparks like Times Square on New Year’s Eve or flash in erratic patterns and sub-ultraviolet glows like … Continue reading →

Dear god, I thought, I hope that’s deer blood and not how I’m both excited and repulsed by the thought that I’m mostly a verdant garden of toxins these days. That’s when the hit shits the fan, my man, Donnie says later, then laughs his laugh, those dark beady eyes boring right into me like … Continue reading →

One summer night in Savannah my ceiling fans blinked black so I sprayed my cellar with a flashlight, stalking a tripped fuse. Another sweep illuminated men with lips of liquorice bits, grinning as if recalling a prank their father made at their expense. They lowered foreheads and charged me with a toy chest battering ram. … Continue reading →

Jagged grapevines shake and twist for an audience of lake crests while the best man repeats a joke with every sweaty handshake: Interested in some rings? Groomsmen search dinner jackets for flasks of scotch, grumbling about prayers for sunshine answered with unmerciful heat. The best man realizes the terrifying prospect of skipping both rings toward … Continue reading →