There are shades in smokewho gleefully withhold their answers in dry desert washes.   They are conjured with dry manzanita and frosty sage, and they will gladly dance with you— for the wind excites their feet. They’ll trip and watch you fall, and laugh through the voices of sparrows. But

Incarnation I dance better than I speak. My still lips are more eloquent     than my polite conversation.      In the dark movie theater     our knees touch skin     to skin on a summer day.      Asleep in fall rain     our hands find each other   

Washington Square Park Urban dogscan find no dignifiedplace to shit. Urban dogs squat on street cornersand cracked concrete sidewalkstheir owners distractedwatching blanklyplastic bag in handat the far end of the leash. Urban dogs must get alongin the sandy dog runin Washington Square—dobermans and poodles pugsand beagles must play together nicelytheir

Tinder summer sun pours wetly     through the convex lens of my desireaugust heat weighs heavy on my chest     and the days are far too longevery golden haired thigh and muscled shoulder     gleams moist with need in midday heatbearded and hungry faces meet my eye     and linger in the desperate imaginationof tangled limbs and salty

The Living “The front section is the realm of the dead, symbolized by inert materials – polished black granite and concrete.  The back section represents the living.”  —Parc de l’espoir – AIDS Memorial ParkVille-Marie, Montreal. I’ve lost those cubes of half remembered dead—not even half I’ve forgotten them completely In

Something to Remember You By thank you for the mementothis piece of you formy knick knack shelf your kisses are gone your rough palmover my mouthand the five olive bruiseson my forearm willfade with time so i’m glad you left mesomething i could treasureand that time willnot take away i

Rosemary for Remembrance wild rosemary memories     of the gardens of northern californiathe sprig she cut for each of us     after the handfastingis on my altar still     a decade and a half latershe was roomy and luxuriant     and he was mushroom puckheavy earth mother bosom and