Encore

Cold, that’s how I was. I couldn’t shake it off, especiallythose last days and nights doing all the right thingsin the wrong spirit, in the antithesis of spirit, moremachine of…

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Zoom

In the hospice where you died, a lot of moneywas spent to make the place conform to someone’salgorithm of home—shag carpeted lobby,wood paneled elevator, particle board furniturewith shrink wrap thin…

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The Motto

It’s posted on the wallat school: Omnia quae sciomecum fero, everything I knowI carry with me. Maybe the children recognize the Latin words.Some already know the rules of addition andsubtraction, the…

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Blackout

Mother is knitting for meA sweater in the dark. Father is on all foursSearching for a black cat. —Charles Simic Charles Simic's many books of poems included Come Closer and Listen,…

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Arson

Shirts rose on a neighbor’s laundry line,One or two attempting to fly,As three fire engines sped byTo save a church going up in flames. People walking back from the pyreWith…

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