After the Playground

After the Playground

standing in darkness fingertips dulled with cold             breath a bird in my throat i am swimming in potential eyes grazing the stars             frantic...
Creeping Charlie

Creeping Charlie

~For Lavender  (In Memoriam, May 6th, 2020)The dragonfliesdove between theshafts of sunlight as the babysat in sweet swaying grassnext to the weed-packed bucket.We’d talked hours, our laborshardly labor, before falling intocompanionable silence, gingerly...
Prairie Fire

Prairie Fire

Each year, the placard tells us,      Ho-Chunk Indians          burned this prairie to ash,       rooting out invasive species –...
Second Harvest

Second Harvest

she is such a tiny bud, rawwith winter’s scrubbed potential, born to high winds to parents of dune thistle grandparents of red baneberry lost in a rough country of ancestry not recognizing oak from aspen...
Marriage Advice

Marriage Advice

Last night after a fight with my loverI sat on my front porch under an umbrella,vicious thunderstorm poundingdown around me, tuggingthe umbrella slantwaysand shaking, as I smoked my cigaretteangrily, watching the park across thestreet light up with electric...