Robert Morgado did pest control. His father had done pest control, and so had his grandfather. When his wife said “Nuff already,…
Still Standing
It amazed him how long, after a tree died, was even completely rotted through like this one appeared to be,…
Closing Time at the Kaka‘ako Café
Even though the café was a small one, between cooking and running the front by herself, Asako was having a…
To Move On
All those times you’d been togethernot holding onto you, sticking with you,how after all this can laughter heal you, evercome…
The world, grown old
You know, my fate’s really always come down to you.It’s been that way since 1982.I’ve counted the years nearly every…
No Game Stop
We were that amusement, some bright, shiny object,the birthday toy, the circus mobile spinning above the crib to mesmerizeor maybe…
Within a dream
When she hugged you the last time, the wind whispered, traitor. You feed my sleep often with dreams of yesterday…
My dog howls at the moon
Is it because he wants to have the moon here with him?Does he want to eat itfor all he knows…
dot dot dot
pretend you knew where you were goingand now you’ve run into usso follow along the silent spaces we speak in…
2019 in Wuhan
This is for the man in Wuhansitting by the roadside in the shade of the overpassdirty white undershirt and mussed…
Strong Women
She was having a hard time going to sleep, maybe fear of the dark and all those kinds of trauma…
This is now
Sometimes I think I’ve becomethat man it’s said will never understand the boyeven though he has been that boybecause he’s…
Poetic thought
The more I drinkthe higher the cigarette butts pile up in the ashtraythe more I think . . . That…
A Way with Words
We’d all grown up together from small-kid time, most from age three or four, so far survived school, work, bad…
burn that mother down
I stare into a mirror sometimeswhere we bathed in a fiery lakebaby seen over my shoulder those gray eyesI can’t…
Stormy Weather
He stepped out into a sunless day. He wondered where it had gone. Oh no. Could this be that end of the world…
Mānoa Driving Lessons
Friday nights we smoke dopedrink Strawberry Hilland I give Steve driving lessons Every time we pass by her houseSteve stops…
maybe try saying this
so if you can’t say every single wordthen try at least a word or tworemarking maybe howtwo neutron stars will…
One Last Swimmer
David whispered, “Lanning, go back down the driveway.” “What is it?” “Just go, get to a safe distance. Rodney, you cover…
What’s the Real Crime?
We went down and sat in the hotel lobby. David and Mr. Kim discussed three things: what might have been the object…
Lanning Lee 