Like the poor the sparrows we will always have with us, my neighbor lady tells me as she feeds the birds

You think he’d be more grateful. Neither rich nor poor he’s never wanted for anything. He’s always had what he needs but never had any gratitude

World War II was over but still fresh in the minds of folks who li… in Bill’s hometown in the Ozarks. Independence Day was important. It called for a celebration.

The stench came first, the young man remembers. It was as if someone had grabbed him by the ankles, turned him upside down

You think it’s easy, embalming bodies in these nightmares I have every night, bodies a vulture

Every day comes praise for Him everywhere in nature a cricket chirps a wren sings

Some never hear of him and likely never will— pygmies in Africa, aborigines in Tasmania, the indigenous in South America.

A group of older men gather once a week to talk about life after a heart attack. Old Len chews tobacco still and tells jokes in a voice so low

There never was anyone like Ali between the ropes or facing the public. In the ring and out

I sit here at peace and mind my own business and hope for a butterfly. I never take one out of the air. I paint only the flight of the but…

Every evening, up in my rooom, I try to finish a poem but Chicago is hot and it’s better outside,

My wife’s upset because I won’t answer the phone in the middle of the night even though the phone’s on my side of the bed.

Some women use perfume and that’s fine. Some don’t and that’s fine too. Over the years

The amount in every paycheck has a period in it. Those who get a paycheck every week dream about seeing a comma three spaces in front of the perio…

Sometimes an egg comes out of a chicken Sometimes a poem comes out of a title Sometimes a chicken