Who’s an Okay Boy?

Miraculously, I have found enough wordsall month long to fill unturned pages turned,my daily worry, heavy as a dreaming child’s … More

Running in the Dark

I watch the Midwest-style lightningjags rip from heaven to the ground,the lake ice exploding with the impact. Slipping on my … More

“You Are Beautiful”

More than 60 years removed now, so long ago,you are mostly ghosts now, but you were thengood news, big headlines … More

The Apple Doesn’t Fall

Few apple trees will fruit this latein fall, but I do see a fewin the far misting distance,the children I’ve … More

Not Sorry

Every week we would receive a few cut-out albums,the ones with the notched corner and stickers sayingthey were not for … More

What Dreams May Come

I say again I have no funny family stories worth telling.Lots of families do, sure, and sure, some of minemight … More

Go Back

A slow country riderocks us from crest to crestthen one more nextthe highest yetfinds us abovea lowest valley deepthe feel … More

A Temporary Parting

I recognize the boy climbing up the bank on the other side.Turning, he calls to me, over the rush of … More

what impressions were

a sound slight as breathstill the cold touch of lamplight on white snowthose thick linesa brow furrowedeyes of white hairthink your … More

My Last Wife

It was gold and bigger than a bread box,my birthday gift topped with a red velvet bow,and I was amused … More

Personal Taste

sometimes I say too much onlyabout spaces sacred to me andforget the idea of the universaltruth and wholly applicable ideain … More

Homecoming

The Christmas berry tree where I hung in the crookof the main branch, every night, always after dark, I waited,you … More

Ready To Begin?

The pressure of high-school speech tournamentsbesides the speaker, and the six to follow,is something few students handle well automatically.There are … More

The Murder of the Father, and the Muddle of the Son

“Have you heard of Phil Tico?” asked Bobby Stillman.            Chan’s blood came to an instant boil. Not only did he know … More

No Game

The way old people misplace their memories,and sometimes the younger ones, too,it’s a game of hide with no seek,where the … More

your letters

these lettersyour hand writesyour handwriting is all curious curlicuesas if a right-handed calligrapherwrites them with his left footas if a … More

Like Grandfather, Like Father, Like Grandson

Byung Yu fidgeted with his cigarette holder. To call his father, why worry so much? Certainly not a child anymore, … More

A Sound Poem

Bob claims a sound poem engages all five senses.You see it, hear it, touch it, smell it, taste it.Picture a … More

Beyond Pain

Someone I loved, I heard the other day,a woman I’d known in my Madison years,had battled Parkinson’s for ten long … More

How The One Defeats The Other

It’s the best kind because it’s TV advice.The Other seeks something of valueand kills, using his martial arts expertise,everyone standing … More