Poems

A handful of my poems have found homes in journals and anthologies, a civic art project or two, and elsewhere. Here are a few to read, watch, or play.

We plan for the apocalypse over beers

Honorable mention in the 2020 Button Poetry video contest

1986

Before I woke to the fires within and without — published in West Trade Review

Some promise

In One, an online journal published by Jacar Press

A flatlander falls in love

The landscape of Oklahoma (where I grew up) and the weather that often rolls in fast and loud make a handy metaphor for many things.

Day jobs and courage

My homage to the people who show up for open mic. Not just the performers, but the audience too.

For Beryl Markham

“…this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers.”Ernest Hemingway

Watching home movies of my lover at 17

In Triggerfish Critical Review, Fall 2018

Open letter to anyone writing about love

In Connotation Press, an online artifact

Brownfield heart

With original music by my friend Doc Hutchings, one of many treasures I’ve found at open mic

Sister pine

“Part of the mythos of the Chosen One…is that they must be alone.”Aliette de Bodard

Stone’s throw

Whatever you’ve lost, it’s only as far away as your memory (published in One)

he said he’d have to think about it

…and we both knew what that meant.

A flatlander explains big sky

If you grew up in Oklahoma or a similar landscape, you know that what is made visible by the flatness of that landscape can take your breath. Just like good sex.

not another cat poem

When my 17-year-old cat died, I knew that the world did not need—well, not from me at least—another cat poem. So I didn’t write one.

Lots

“I’m an old tart and you come late and I have loyalties scattered over the landscape like lots I bought and pay taxes on still…” Marge Piercy, The Inquisition.

Getaway

A duet with my erstwhile open mic co-host, Benjamin Molini, who travels light.

this camera refuses to take pictures of overphotographed locations

In Rat’s Ass Review, an online journal that publishes what it likes. You know what they don’t give.

A flatlander visits the beach

As a mind imprinted in childhood by life in a landlocked state, the ocean has never struck me as anything all that great.

We plan for the apocalypse over beers

Honorable mention in the 2020 Button Poetry video contest

1986

Before I woke to the fires within and without — published in West Trade Review

Some promise

In One, an online journal published by Jacar Press

A flatlander falls in love

The landscape of Oklahoma (where I grew up) and the weather that often rolls in fast and loud make a handy metaphor for many things.

Day jobs and courage

My homage to the people who show up for open mic. Not just the performers, but the audience too.

For Beryl Markham

“…this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers.”Ernest Hemingway

Watching home movies of my lover at 17

In Triggerfish Critical Review, Fall 2018

Open letter to anyone writing about love

In Connotation Press, an online artifact

Brownfield heart

With original music by my friend Doc Hutchings, one of many treasures I’ve found at open mic

Sister pine

“Part of the mythos of the Chosen One…is that they must be alone.”Aliette de Bodard

Stone’s throw

Whatever you’ve lost, it’s only as far away as your memory (published in One)

he said he’d have to think about it

…and we both knew what that meant.

A flatlander explains big sky

If you grew up in Oklahoma or a similar landscape, you know that what is made visible by the flatness of that landscape can take your breath. Just like good sex.

not another cat poem

When my 17-year-old cat died, I knew that the world did not need—well, not from me at least—another cat poem. So I didn’t write one.

Lots

“I’m an old tart and you come late and I have loyalties scattered over the landscape like lots I bought and pay taxes on still…” Marge Piercy, The Inquisition.

Getaway

A duet with my erstwhile open mic co-host, Benjamin Molini, who travels light.

this camera refuses to take pictures of overphotographed locations

In Rat’s Ass Review, an online journal that publishes what it likes. You know what they don’t give.

A flatlander visits the beach

As a mind imprinted in childhood by life in a landlocked state, the ocean has never struck me as anything all that great.