the baby's heartbeat
through the monitor
ET phone home

eartoshell
ocean calling
I don't speak whale

windy day
clouds dance in the water
with the coots

a little white dress
the girl plays in the mud
making friends with the toads

top quarter champion

TOP half Chamption

bottom quarter champion

lifting her on his back
sprinting to the lake
falling backward

look! look!
thrusting his hand
into the pond

empty wine bottles—
robust laughter
echoes through the cabin

hats on feet
socks on hands
biggest smile in the room

TOP half champion

CHAMPION
 

BOTTOM half champion

dry wildflowers
sway gently
beside the broken gate

each time I talk
with my step-mother . . .
her voice more frail

the moon ceases to shine—
a black cat
under the tire of my car

winter frost arrives early
merciless
forest a graveyard

top quarter champion

BOTTOM half champion

bottom quarter champion

computer screen
freezes
escape, escape, escape

the wall
chipping away slowly
building it thicker

I break the cookie
full of hope
no fortune

following my every move
my only friend
my shadow