Dropped Call

Drive into the tunnel nowAll flesh drawn tighter than airAll around my chestBody stiff concrete lungsA deepest breath heldThe harder … More

“It’s the Yu Clan,” Episode 12 of my latest Lt. David Chan Hawai’i-based mystery, is now available on the Kindle Vella platform

Islands

That popularized line of John Donne’sAbout no one being a self-sufficient islandThat we are all partOf a larger interdependent groupBoth … More

Careful

As spring comes in with that lion’s roarUnder this sky it’s a jagged light showTree limbs shattering in screams at … More

Direction

What happened to my compassI had it when I was a cub scoutLearning about directionsStuck in a drawer somewhereI hunt … More

Unawakening

You’ll hold down the bench next dayBeen there beforeLots of practicePerfecting the uneven eveningThe uncalm lurching darkRevisit old desiresCurrent onesProblemsSituationsRelationshipsBuffaloed … More

Something New

From the moment he woke up this morning, he knew he needed something different. As he brushed his teeth, looking … More

Avoid Plagiarism

I borrow from heroes, as many writers doAnd avoid plagiarism by making words newTo walk that fine line I’ve disguised … More

I am not sentimental

Never have beenNor ever plan to beWon’t waste words on timeOr anything gone byThe delicate sensibilityFeelings first and wistfulNostalgiaA waste … More

A Word to the . . .

Every second on the clock I learnA second’s more something.Even asleep dreams tickTheir teachings to me,Reassembling information accruedThrough years, mixing … More

Some daily affirmation

I swearIs what I needIn truth I doTo be that kind of personOnce I decide to doI will ahead and … More

Fish

Fish             Squatting at the pond’s edge, he held a small fishnet in his hand. He could smell the familiar slight … More

A Writing Story

I have never written a story or a poem the way I wanted to write it.  Something always gets in the … More

No one is here

To watch me leaveStepping out of the room unseenWith no goodbyesThey might say if they were hereHe’s not goneThey might … More

Of course you know that golf

Is not God’s gift to manIn order to avoid Sunday worship He did not sayLet there be a vast and … More

Love Forgotten

Give away something dear sometimeTry this and perhaps you’ll not miss itReorder your brain, your heart to accept the absenceGladly … More

The Writer Writes

I was sitting at a table outside Macy’s when the elderly Japanese woman bumped into my table.  She was carrying a … More

Chosen

But that was long agoHer intentIf I recall correctlyWas to steal my heartSet me apartFrom all the othersPounding at her … More

Echoes

Climbing Yellow MountainWe take our turnsShout outThis place famous for echoesHow long will our “Hello”sLast?I manageA solid bellowVoice of an … More

Reminding the Gaps

At a reading a couple weeks back, I read a piece about some of the encounters I’d had with racist … More