• INTIMATIONS OF MORTALITY

    It is easier to think about deathon a wintery evening, when so muchof life slips into stasis, and there isnothing to do but concede your mortality,and with good fortune, then slipinto sleep before being lostin a sea of depression. I must be thankful for my dreamsfor they keep the night from becomingthe little death of…


  • LEX

    Well before there wasAristotle, there was aa,which comes as no surpriseto geologists who neverdoubted the historyand creation ofthis planet. Well after the zebrathere was the zygote,which a biologistwould tell youis putting the cartwell before the horse. The lexicographer will saythat he did not createthis disconnect, for heor she is a mere recorder,so you’d have to…


  • PERCUSSION

    After years of going to live jazzI’ve honed my skills to a fine level.I still know next to nothingabout the intricacies of the music,five years of classical piano andI barely understand Bach and Mozart. But I know where to look, whobears watching in the combo,and it isn’t the trumpeter, hewith his ballooning cheeks, someclownish bellows,…


  • ROADS

    The problem with roadsis that they all must leadsomewhere, and if lucky, withother theres along the way. I prefer roads that haveno beginnings or ends,that go where they willand change direction on a whim. On my roads you neverarrive late because thereis no point at which to arrive,so you are always timely. Friends laugh when…


  • AN E-TALE

    I have been repeatedly toldby many that in this hyper-electronic age, the best way, ifnit the only way, for the little guyto buy and sell is online. I’m not one to argue soI decided to try it, and quicklylearned that Amazon hadcornered the market on salesso Craigslist was my best hope. I also learned that…


  • STRANGE NIGHT

    It was a most unusual nightin the city, and a surprising numberof its residents took note of thatwhich in itself was unusual. By 2:00 A.M., those awake andthose who had awakenedstrained to hear it, but therewas nothing at all, no sounds to which they had becomeso accustomed, and some imaginedthey had been transportedfrom the city…


  • IN THE WETLANDS

    Walking through a nature preservelike Wakodahatchee Wetlands youmust always keep a sharp eye. The birds are everywhere, they areunavoidable and even the alligators,imagining themselves coy are soon enough easily recognized,snouts appear just above the surfacewary eyes scanning the shore. Here you are also surroundedby poems, but they are far moreable to hide, among the eggs…


  • SENSELESS

    You place the shroudover my head,it is dark, but Ican still touch her cheek. You cut offmy fingers, leavingonly stumps, but Ican still taste her tears. You pull outmy tongue, there isonly bitterness, but Ican hear her morning laugh. You drown mein a sea of noisenothing breaks the din, but Ismell her sweetness. You fill…


  • POETS GATHER

    One deep and abiding beauty of dreamsis that it is entirely logical forMarina Tsvetaeva to be engagedIn an animated discussion withCorso and Ginsberg where none willacknowledge that the world theywrote and imagined is a total mess. Over in the corner, Mandelstam andReznikoff have agreed that for eternityevery game of chess they play willresult in a…


  • MIRROR IMAGE

    Each morning when I lookinto the mirror I imagineI see me, but of course thatis impossible, for in that momentonly the mirror sees meand I see the mirror. How deluded I must beto assume that I look at alllike the mirror, but it is,I know, just such delusionsthat enable my sense of self,and that is…