My Father’s War Souvenir

Paulie, my father’s friend in Madison, tells meThat after the Army bussed him back to MilwaukeeHaving held onto him for … More

Annual Birthday Party at the Zeppelin Field, Nuremberg, Germany

He stands at the podium projecting out over the fieldGrips the railing, his hands a ghostly whiteThe master orator had … More

The American Cemetery at Lorraine, France

All of them, like brilliant dominoes, lined up in perfect rowsColumns of names carved in stone, these markers of soldiers … More

Why Do I Shiver at the Site?

It gives me a chill, somewhat of a frightening shiverTo stand at the grave of a Nazi General and feel … More

The Haunting of Permanent Night

The moon may go down, but the night never endsHere where we mingle with the spirits of the deadIn the … More

The Concentration Camp at Dachau, Germany

I’ve traveled by myself, and I’ve gone with tour groupsAnd the thing about solo journeys is thisWith trips anywhere when … More

Encounter

I do what I’ll do when there’s free time on a tourHead out into the wilds of the place where … More

Christmas in September

The man wears a T-shirt that says“Spending Christmas with My Kids & My Cats”There’s a cartoon drawing of two playful … More

Age Before Beauty

She asks me how old I amWe’re standing side-by-side at the row of individual sinksI wonder each time I come … More

Transportation Inspiration

Planes are for writing poetryThink turbulence encounteringPerhaps Death’s come a’knockingHis scythe gleaming keenlyBringing instant panic with stomach acrobatics An inspirational moment … More

Roots

He stops drilling into the root canal because I raise my left handTrying my best to hold back a world’s … More

Bracing Myself

The green tinted windowsCast an emerald glow over everythingIt’s like coming to Oz to ask for a fillingMy new dentist, … More

My new collection of stories, The Rainbows That Follow, is now available

I’m happy to say that my new collection of stories, The Rainbows That Follow, is now available on Amazon in … More

Extraction

It’s at moments like these a man faces his mortalitySmokes that last cigarette to settle his nervesA prisoner facing the … More

Numb

I’ve lived in Madison three years without a teeth cleaningThe dentist, between grunts, tells me I must do this more … More

Before Fluoride

There’s something quirky about his eyesThey vibrate electric, left right left rightTwo butterflies trapped like ratsIn almond-round drains that swirl … More

A Few Words to the Wise

I remember how I lost my teeth, the wisdom onesAll four at one blow to a drillAnd on a tray, … More

The Burning

Merry Christmas, the card was white, like Madison snowAnd like snow does,  it’s become splotched with brown. I remember when you … More

Wistful

Very soon, she said, maybe next weekHer face pressed against the pillowDamp from this night we sweated in the humidityOf … More

You’re So Ambitious for a Juvenile

My guardian angel wasn’t there to protect meWhen my nose sucked in gobs of chlorinated waterMy eyes stinging and my … More