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KNOWING
She wants to know if I could be an animal which would I choose. Part of me wants to answer panther – sleek, black, catlike eyes glowing in the night – but never coyote, crawling out of the hills in search of rabbits darting through the sage, never the trickster. I am an animal, I…
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THIS POEM
will not marvel at the dawn will not stare at the ebb and flow of the sea will not see ghosts in the clouds over Dachau will sit on the page staring back will remember the torn wallpaper will cry out, always unanswered will not trace your spine, lingering on each vertebra will not make…
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INTERACTIVE
He slides into the bed after she is long asleep. It is a well rehearsed dance, and she senses his presence deep within her dreams. He leans into his wife, traces his finger tip down from her temple, along the line of her jaw, into the hollow of her neck. In this dream she…
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REFLECTIONS ON A FATHER NEVER KNOWN
The sun is obscured by half-lidded eyes. We are standing together on a small beach. Twenty toes are curled in the wave packed sand. We are in Cascais, or perhaps Estoril. The waves spread their foam capped fingers through the rocks and cradle us. He wants to drive down the coast, to see the boats…
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AGELESS
He is still three, but he is not easily convinced of that fact. He says he is four, although with that certain smirk and a wink he admits his birthday is next week. He says he is practicing being four and it doesn’t seem all that hard. He says he has gotten so good at…
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SCENES FROM A MURDER TRIAL (A PLAY WITHOUT ACTORS): ACT I
On December 14, 1992, a shooting occurred at Simon’s Rock College. At around 10:30 pm, Wayne Lo, a student at the school, shot and killed one student and one professor, and wounded three students and a security guard. His SKS rifle soon jammed and Lo later surrendered to authorities without further incident. The people killed in…
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SPEAKING IN TONGUES
She said you should try astral projection. I said I have tried transcendental meditation and even a bit of EST. She said that biofeedback was better than most of the drugs she remembered using. I said that tequila took far less practice if you could stand the inevitable hangover. She said she thought that dying…
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ARRIVAL
The lake arrives each morning, just before she opens her eyes. She’s tried to catch it, getting up earlier or later but it was just lapping the shore outside her window each time she first gazed at it. Once she tried to stay up all night, and it clung to the shore despite its desire…
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TRIPTYCH
A triptych hangs in the gallery of memory. Admission is by invitation only. The first panel is a time fogged mirror into which I stare. The adopted image hides behind the tarnished silver. My adopted mother’s voice is heard from a hidden speaker: “You were named after my father.” I want to tape his picture…
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PIANO LESSONS
Mrs. Schwarting was my piano teacher. At 12, my parents gave me a choice of lessons: piano or dance. I had two left feet. I chose piano. It did not move. My mother smiled at my choice. She knew what my decision would be before she asked. My mother was like that. Mrs. Schwarting was…
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an old writer and his words 