Explore

Upon Asking the Cashier at Kroger to Scan That Old Tattoo of a Barcode on My Forearm

Turns out my body’s a dollar sweet potato, her screen said.

Upon Seeing Two Checkboxes under Sex at the Doctor’s Office

We could have everything and still be hurt.

Ursula granger and i walk mulberry row during bottling season

ursula says she’s seen everyone she loves in an apple, save herself.

Us

When the population was whiter, they fawned over the Korean.

Using a Cane

With cane in hand I felt a twinge of superiority to the crutch people.

Vernal Equinox

I am uneasy with the thrusting of green shoots outside in the night.

Vestibule

Chase Twichell

Victoria

I drank every night until late and drew earth-shaking conclusions.

Vietnam and Thailand

Theodora Shure

Villanelle

Omens from the Lord, or Nature, the clouds, some darker silhouette.

Virgil Explains Limbo to Dante

Limbo: Latin, limbus, meaning a hem between sclera and cornea.

Visit from the Gods

Zeus’s tongue thrusts straight and deep between my lips.

Visitation

Here is where you touch the world and here are the words to feel its heat.

W. H. Auden at the 92nd Street Y

They rose before us under a halo of lights like figures in a shrine.

War Porn

Dogs electrocuted, set on fire. What buys the right to drown a dog?

Waxer

I once watched a man wax a hallway with an overweight rotary brush.

Weegee Stories

Mama would say beware of the little flaws that make one homely.

What It Requires

I am part dumb, and blind, and deaf, and untasting and unfeeling.

Whatever You Can

Cat food smells even unopened like vomit and I don’t trust cats.

When I Knew Stephen Crane

If he could not evade a serious question by a joke, he bolted.

When I Lose and Other Poems

Re: murdering democracy, oiling the shore, shearing the rain forest.

When I Think of Early Romance I Think of Fishing

I wouldn’t know what to do with the body, gills pumping like an accordion.

When You Can No Longer Talk about It, You Have to Sing

I had forgotten how to breathe, and then I learned again, all at once.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

The onus is on you, because you care about your car and your life.

White Fish

There isn’t a nice Jewish boy in sight—not that I’m looking for one.

White Houses

I open the door and Eleanor is leaning against the wall, paper white.

Why I Have Decided to Live

Because I can love every small thing.

Why Wane, Why Not Wax?

Make It Big, all return and rhythm, a groove that plays to the center.

Wild Tongue

Appearance does not really appear, but it appears to appear.

Will and I

When the doctors’ voices started turning to noise, I didn’t fight it.