(1994)
Republished by permission from "Lyric," Vol. 74, No. 3
Coffee Table Books A coffee table book’s not there to… it’s there to stupefy your curious… who read the titles surreptitiousl… to sneer in secret at your shallow…
System Restore (free verse with incidental rhyme,… Last week, not thinking, I punched a strange computer key and spawned unceasing lunatic para…
They all seem old, with huge, bushy beards, their soiled rags incongruous in the sleek, polished chairs. Not allowed bundles
Our voices hushed, we slip into the narrow, gloomy room, a taper on the back-wall bar the only source of light. Lou leads us to the wooden chairs,
The Afghan women, dreading stones… don sacks of baggy black, concealing them from crown to sole… excepting narrow Brink-truck slots through which the men folk let the…
A big brown dog, gray around the muzzle, lay in the front yard of an old h… between his front paws a tennis ba… As we walked by,
Two Little Ironies* Suggest an early death deserves our envy, *Hardy wrote a book of short...
Mystical Garbage Believing garbage cans are scandal… When battered, making us seem decl… My wife delivered firm commands, a… I threw away a garbage can today.
The Old Floridian Non-Conformist The young prize individuality And choose to feature navels and t… But that, I think, becomes confor… When choices made are what a milli…
American Ethics An ancient joke tells how a kid wh… his parents out of rage or just fo… Then cons the judge by citing all… He’ll surely suffer as a lonely or…
Aesop as Existentialist They’d suffered through a devasta… And many larvae died from lack of… The queen, as well, grew thin for… Thus forcing all the workers to co…
No, birds are not lizards; birds a… I’ve seen a grackle rush from here… for no apparent reason. I’ve seen a lover-loser stab the earth with tiny beak,
A Dumb Waiter in a Heavenly res… (Lou’s Cafe: Fontvielle, France) Our voices hushed, we slip into the narrow, gloomy room, a taper on the back-wall bar
Graal Braun sooner or later plans to join the Lord or an acceptable facsimile on such and such a date. As a high school teacher he held a great variety of part-time jobs, most of wh...
High Mindedness Our hunters, armed with guns and b… Go forth to thin the numerous deer… So none will starve, we’re to supp… Though that lie causes me to sneer…
