The Old Man at the Rest Stop

He haunts the two story grounds where all the buses and some of the private cars go to rest, shuffling along and always on the search for salvageable goods. His coat is two sizes too large, lightened by the dust of the earth that is slowly decaying into nothing but desert sands and irritable grains […]

Bilguun

He meant well When he lit The Korean Torch and set The stove ablaze. He didn’t realize That the smoke Would reveal Diving light And stifle Busy routine. It was not His fault but The electric Candlelight Failed at that Moment. Outside, A man bathed In light High in the air Clipped with Needle noses […]

Transition

Outside to fry On concrete skillet, Served up for Flying patrons To feast upon. Unruly clouds, Men with shirts Raised above Bloated stomachs Stepping over Ruined promises Wedged in dirt Recently dried. Storms descend And winds pick up Painting everything In a fresh coat Of loose earth Before the sky Furrows its brow, Unleashing Torrents […]

Mine

My dear, the time has come Once more for me to depart, But like all the times before, I shall return with bounties The likes of which no man Or woman on this river Has ever witnessed In fevered dreams While swatting mosquitoes In the stifling night. My dear, what is mine Shall soon be […]

The Week I Was Gone

My teeth wail with each step As I walk around the yard, Head tilted slightly aback, Sandals muddied from recent rains. Everything burns but nothing Turns to ash, no smoke to be seen Aside from the cigarette hanging Drolly from my mother’s mouth. I sweat the time from my body, Rising one morning to head […]

2 AM

Silence all around The stars on the steppe As I shine my beacon On the hardened earth, Trying to sense my way Back to the home That really isn’t mine, But is mine for the time That is kept on the watch I keep in my pocket. Nothing can be heard From the two-story house […]

Summer School

Colorful badges And dirty hands, Blank notebooks Tickled by Emptying pens, Transfer from One generation To the next Across an ocean, Cold and vast. Raising voices With orchestral Arcs and adagios, Tempo changes How eyes dart From one Set of hieroglyphs To the next As well as How they escape Sun-blistered lips. Benches and tables, […]

Culture Center

Approaching monolithic pairs Of weathered wood covered In cheap plastic sheets of Days long gone when the stores Had no food, only salt, Because of the withdrawal Of white wolves with red blood. Leaden hoops are shackled in place By a lock with loose teeth That no key can sink into Without special assistance from […]

Game Day

On carpeted tables with Horses and Camels, We gather around The table to compete. First, with polished ankle Of sheep and goat, We learn how the pieces Fall on the table And how we are to Send them flying With terse jabs Into one another. Hit likes with likes, Take a bone. Hit more than […]

Men of the Bottle

Strange things happen when the light Begins to fade and illuminate the clouds In such a way that they begin to glow, Astounding colors sewing a patchwork Behind their billowing folds. Everyone is on the street because There is only one street to be had And everyone must share it: The children with their volleyballs, […]